Understanding China: Face Trumps Truth

Do not underestimate the importance of understanding the Chinese perspective.  Your life will be more and more dominated by it as time goes by.

Those of us who did not grow up in China inevitably get China wrong again and again.  Policy makers, ambassadors, businessmen and women are often confounded by the Chinese world and cannot understand why things unfold as they do.  Stories abound of business dealings gone wrong with the clueless foreigner leaving China perplexed as to why it all derailed.  This especially plagues those of us from western civilizations.

An understanding of a few concepts can vastly improve relations with the Chinese people.  The Chinese perspective is significantly different from that of the West in a few key ways.  One of the most important concepts is usually referred to as "face".  "Losing face" essentially means being embarrassed or looking bad in front of other people. "Saving face" means making sure you don't embarrass someone.  "Giving face" means to make someone look good in the presence of others. 

Of course, to some extent, we all care how we are perceived by others, however this is taken to an extreme degree in China.  Read the following statement with care as it is crucial to operating successfully in the Chinese world: honesty and truth are not as important as harmony and saving face.  

This statement cannot be over-emphasized.  In the West, we place enormous value on the truth and honesty.  While these qualities are considered positive in China, they are much lower on the list than maintaining harmony.  The key to maintaining harmony is never to make someone lose face.  Saving and giving face are of immense importance to the Chinese, so much so that it is socially expected that you will lie and give face rather than be honest if it means embarrassing someone.  

A simple example will help explain how this concept colors every aspect of life.  Years ago, shortly after I began living in China, I travelled to the western part of the country.  One time, as I was stepping onto a public city bus, the driver waved me away, indicating I could not ride on the bus.  When I asked why, he said there were no seats.  I looked and saw multiple open seats.  Plus, if you have ever been on a bus in China you know that, if there is room to stand, there is room for you.  I pointed this out to the driver, who just kept repeating that there were no seats.  I stood there shocked as the bus driver closed the doors and drove away.

After sharing this with Chinese friends, I learned that the bus went to an area where foreigners were not allowed without a special permit.  This would be rather uncomfortable for the driver to explain to me and might make one or both of us feel embarrassed and lose face.  In order to preserve harmony, the driver came up with a lie which would keep either one of us from an uncomfortable face-losing situation.  By doing so, he kept the peace.

While truth and justice are trumpted in the western media, in China you hear about harmony.  Whether or not you agree with this, it is deeply a part of Chinese society.  An awareness of the importance placed on "face" in China is crucial to successfully engaging with and exploring this country which contains twenty percent of all humanity.

No Megaphones, Rabbits, Umbrellas or Handicapped People Allowed!

As I rode up the escalator to the largest supermarket in town, I saw this sign.  Being that the escalator does not pause to give you a moment to process the details of this sign, you can only assume that you had better be on your best behavior in this supermarket.

At the bottom of the escalator I had to put my backpack inside one of their security bags which they locked and would re-open when I left.  Once I got to the top of the escalator, the employee standing at the top frantically told me to put my pen in pocket.  I had in my hand a pen and a sticky-note on which I had written my grocery list.  I stared in confusion at her and, before I realized that she was talking to me, she guided my hand holding the pen into my pocket.  She explained that they sold pens here and I couldn't have mine out while in the store.  I showed her the English writing on the pen (I apparently got the pen from a bank somewhere in the US), but she wouldn't have it.  Her eyes darted around.  She acted like a prison guard who was letting a prisoner sneak in a bit of contraband.

As far as the photo above, the first row contains pictures of three acceptable behaviors: carrying a baby while riding the escalator, holding onto the rail and standing on the right side of the escalator (on an interesting side note, escalators are usually laid out in the opposite way as in the US, with the left side going up and right side going down).

The sign included some obvious prohibitions such as no playing with fire in the store, no smoking, no outside food and no spitting on the ground (still quite the issue in many places in China).  We are told not to play on the escalator, push children in strollers up the escalator, make loud noises or use video recording equiptment inside the supermarket.  Pets are not allowed and, for some reason, somebody decided that the animal which would best represent pets was the rabbit,  not the dog or cat.  You may protest that dogs and cats are also food for some.  Well, many Chinese also eat rabbit, so that argument doesn't explain it.  

Contrary to how I first interpreted it, handicapped individuals are in fact allowed into the store, they are just not permitted to use the escalator.  There is no elevator, so I guess they have to try their luck with the stairs.  Wet umbrellas are not allowed into the store either.  And, finally, we are reminded to take good care of our valuables.

Being a foreigner in China, I am often treated somewhat leniently, usually because it is assumed that I don't understand the rules or people don't want to try to explain them to me.  This time, however, I wasn't allowed to use my pen in the store.  Upon leaving, as I was walking onto the elevator, I noticed it had been raining and that person after person was entering the supermarket with dripping wet umbrellas, a clear prohibition! 

As I went down the escalator, I thought to myself, "maybe next time I will try bringing in a rabbit in a child's stroller and record the whole thing!"

Just Another Day in China (With Snakes, Smoking Pig Pit-masters and Plastic Baggie Criminals!)

My wife and I decided to ride our bikes around the city today.  We wanted a bit of exercise and to explore the parts of the city we had not yet been to.  We expected a relatively typical day and things ended up that way, at least from the perspective of someone living in China, it turns out.  When telling a friend (who has not been to China) about my day, I realized that I have gotten used to scenes which may be considered very unusual to others.  While it was just another day for my wife and I in China, it did have reptiles being sold as aphrodisiacs, BBQ salespeople dancing to techno music while wearing pig and monkey masks and a criminal being led into a police station wearing a thin, black plastic bag on his head.

About 5 minutes from our place we came upon a fair, or carnival, of sorts.  It was being held outside in a small empty lot.  It was a strange smattering of items including teas, women's underwear, reptiles being sold for medicinal purposes and viagra substitutes, dried fruits, a Taiwanese health drink (which looked and tasted suspiciously like Kool-Aid), a flower which was being hailed as a panacea for all health concerns and "genuine" bear-fur blankets.  

In the center of it all was a snack area which had for sale barbecued lamb and beef, fried whole crabs, oysters on the half shell, stinky tofu (which stunk up the whole place, but yet is very tasty) and a sour noodle soup.  Across from each other were two separate vendors selling BBQ, both of whom were playing music very loudly and wearing masks.  One guy was wearing the pig mask (in the picture above: he is pausing from his barbecuing and dancing to take a drag off his cigarette) and the other was wearing a monkey mask.   It took me a couple minutes before I realized that they were two characters from the Chinese literary classic "Journey to the West" (西游记).  They were having some sort of dance-off/cook-off.

The second picture above is of the items being sold by one of the vendors.  There are snakes, a large turtle, piles of snake heads and actual snake oil.   In the words of the vendor, "Long before there was Viagra, China had snake's blood!"  Just next to this stand was a camel and two peacocks.  The camel's nose was tied to a ladder and the peacocks legs were tied to platforms on either side of a porch swing.  It cost 10 RMB (About $1.67) to take a picture on the camel or between the peacocks.

After leaving the fair, we rode through a bumpy dirt rode and came out upon a relatively quiet area which had two very large gated houses with yards.  This was the first time I had seen such large houses outside of large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai and certainly the first time I had seen yards. The houses were relatively very large (maybe upper-middle class sized in the US) and had security cameras.  Clearly, these houses were owned by local officials or big-shots of some sort.  Looking more carefully, I could clearly see paint  peeling off, weather stains and mold growth.  In fact, upon further inspection, both houses seemed uninhabited.  This is not uncommon in China where there are often entire apartment complexes with hundreds of unused apartments.  It is an eerie thing to see a such a mini ghost town.  Because the Chinese government limits with how much money its citizens can take out of the country, bank account's interest rates are kept artificially low and the stock market has performed dismally for the past few years, many Chinese people have poured their savings into owning apartments which they never use.  Unfortunately for them, most of these are shoddily built and the government owns all of the actual land underneath.

On the way home we passed the local public security bureau.  We stopped in front of it so I could look up in my dictionary a Chinese character I was unfamiliar with.  Suddenly a white, windowless van pulled up and, out of the side door, two policemen escorted a handcuffed man out of the van and into the station.  Strangely, the man's head was covered by a thin, black, tiny plastic bag.  It is the type of bag that vegetable vendors usually put vegetables in, but not the heavy veggies, as they will rip through the bag.  It was so thin, in fact, that it was clear that the man could see through it.  There was a light wind, which threatened to blow the bag off and reveal the man's face (of which the small bag barely covered).  One policeman was constantly occupied with keeping the bag in place.  The man disappeared into a back room and a group of policemen sat and smoked cigarettes. 

I suppose this isn't a completely typical day for us here in China, but I didn't think of it as a day any more unusual than the others.  I guess, to those who have not been to China, reptile aphrodiasiac peddlers, pig-masked humans barbecuing lamb and beef while smoking, and criminals with small plastic baggies over their heads might be worthy of raised eyebrows.  It's amazing what we can get desensitized to.

One Country, Many Systems

I spent the past week in Macau.  In case you didn't know, Macau is part of China, but you need a passport to cross from Macau into China and vice-versa.  Macau has it's own separate government, but it is subservient to the government in Beijing, while at the same time being independent.  Don't worry, you didn't mis-read that last sentence.  China censors and regulates its internet and blocks certain websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and "The New York Times".  While Macau is part of China, you can freely access the internet in Macau.  Gambling is illegal in China and, though Macau is part of China, gambling is not only legal in Macau, it is the life-blood of the city. In fact, its gambling revenues are annually over four times that of Las Vegas.  The top picture (above) is of one of the casino districts (The second picture is of an "Earth Door Altar" which is seen all over the city and is constantly fed with incense, making the city very fragrant).  In China, the official language is Mandarin Chinese, while in Macau, they primarily speak Cantonese.  Portuguese is also written all over, as Macau was a Portuguese colony for about 450 years.  However, it was given back to China in 1999. 

CONFUSED YET?  Hong Kong has a similar story, though it was a British colony.  Macau and Hong Kong are the two "Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China".  Quite a mouthful.  When the decision was first made to return Hong Kong to China, most outside observers, particularly from North America and Europe believed that Hong Kong would be swallowed up by China (as was East Germany after re-unification).  China said not to worry, it would be "One Country, Two Systems," in other words, Hong Kong would retain its own system of government, economy, etc.  Most in the West scoffed at this and prepared for re-absorption. However, we were wrong.  Today, Hong Kong and Macau are as different from Mainland China as they were under colonization.  We, in the West, repeatedly get China wrong because we interpret it from a western perspective and from western experience.  China, Hong Kong and Macau have managed, though often with much difficulty, to maintain separate systems (though, it is clear that Beijing has quite a bit of pull in both cities).  

To add to this, there is the issue of Taiwan.  China says that Taiwan is, and always has been a part of China.  Some Taiwanese and some foreign governments disagree, or at least choose not to comment on the issue.  China has numerous missiles aimed at the island and has vowed to take it back by force, if it declares independence.  Taiwan elects its own leaders, has a distinct political and economic system and has different visa rules.  From a western perspective, it is clearly a separate country.  But interpreting the situation in this way ignores the Mainland Chinese perspective.  As the Chinese show from Macau and Hong Kong, they see no reason that different places within one country cannot have completely distinct systems.  Adding to this confusion are the "Autonomous regions" in China such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Guangxi.  They are provinces of China, yet, at least in name, have relatively more self-determination.  

This is confusing and enigmatic to an outside observer, however, it is important for outside observers to attempt to understand that this makes sense to most Chinese.  I hesitate to use the analogy, though it is, in some ways, similar to the European Union being united yet containing distinct countries with their own systems.  

In any case, Macau really does have a very different feel than Mainland China.  Macau is much more organized, sanitary and cosmopolitan.  In Mainland China, cars do not stop for pedestrians, in Macau, they usually do. If you could stand on top of the border crossing between Macau and Zhuhai (the city just inside China across the border) you could clearly see the different systems in practice.  

In China, there are few words more cherished that "united".  The government in Beijing  is constantly emphasizing the importance of keeping the country united.  So, China watchers tend to be on the edge of their seats to see if, in fact, China can maintain one country with so many different systems.  Keeping the civilization of China united is much easier than keeping the country of China united.  In other words, keeping China "united" depends very much upon how "Chinese" the people of Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan feel, how much they identify themselves with China.  

If you are confused....good.  That means you are being pulled from of your comfort zone and closer to an understanding.  If you are not confused...good.  That means you understand an important aspect of this rising civilization/country.  

Crossing the River by Feeling for Stones

The Chinese have a phrase: 摸石头过河 (MōShítouGuòhé) which literally translates as "Feel Stones Cross River" and usually is translated as in the title above.  The meaning is to improvise by trial-and-error; to deal with problems as they arise and adjust for problems as they occur. So, imagine going up to a river and deciding you were going to cross it, with no preparation and no forethought. Stick one foot in and see if you can find a stone to stand on.  Once you find one, feel for another.  If you slip and fall, hopefully you don't drown.  If you are in the middle of the river and suddenly run out of stones, tough luck.  The Chinese government itself has, in the past, declared that this would be their policy for dealing with the modernization of China.

This type of thinking is rather foreign for me, even though I have been in China for years.  I am aware of it, I do my best to accept it and go with it, but it is still very difficult for me to deal with.  It just goes against my grain.  For example, I teach at a college in China.  At every place I have taught in China, I have been given the chosen textbooks either the day before class begins or, a few times, weeks after school has started.  When there are school holidays and I want to book tickets for travel, I have to wait until Beijing makes a decision as to exactly which days school will be out.  Beijing contacts my provincial government, who in turn contact the city government who then contact the local education bureau and they then contact the school's president who passes it down the ranks until it reaches me, at the bottom of the totem pole.   Suddenly, the prices of tickets sky rocket and get sold out fast.  My classes and schedule for the school year are always arranged and given to me the evening before school begins.  I asked a Chinese teacher how she deals with this and she quoted the title of this post.  I guess you just deal with it and figure it out last minute.  I could go on and on with examples.

I grew up being taught to "think and plan ahead", "think long-term", "be prepared", etc.  While it is easy for me to point out the negatives of "Crossing the River by Feeling for Stones", I can also see some value to this perspective.  It does eliminate the stress one may feel while preparing and planning; any stress is much more short-lived and occurs "in the moment".  Also, it doesn't appear to bother most Chinese who are simply used to it and know no other way.  The Chinese people, in general, are the most adaptive people I have encountered.  I have found that in the larger, more developed cities, there is slowly becoming more and more tension with this practice.  However, outside of the most developed cities, it seems to just be the way things are.  There is a similar way to say this in Chinese: 顺其自然 (shùnqízìrán) which translates into the more chicken-soupy sounding, "go with the flow".  After all, this is the heart of Daoist philosophy, which was deeply rooted in the Chinese psyche centuries ago.  I guess it is hard to fight centuries of habit.

Oops.

I wonder which came first: the pole or the road.  And who thought this was a good idea?  Or at least good enough to leave it.  I guess this isn't the worst I have seen however.  The other day I was walking near a construction zone and I noticed two huge holes each about 5 x 5 feet. One was about 2 feet deep, the other was at least 4 feet deep.  Between the two holes was a large pile of sand, in which two young kids were playing.  An arms length behind them was, what appeared to be a live electrical wire.  Within a short distance of the wire was a puddle of water.  You couldn't paint a more dangerous scenario.  

In general, I feel very safe in China. I do not fear a break-in, a murder, suicide bomber, kidnapping, etc. Of course, these things do happen.  As long as you fly straight and stay away from religious propagation and meddling in official affairs, the government will overlook you.  My chances of being pick-pocketed, however are somewhat high.  

Danger comes, however, when you are unaware of what is going around you.  Traffic is a no-holds-bar blender of pedestrians, cars, trucks and electric bikes.  You must declare your intentions and you must do so with very little thought.  If you want to cross the road on foot, wait for a small break in traffic and just start walking in front of the on-coming cars (my mother is probably having a heart-attack reading this).  They will slow down, but they will also assume you will continue at the pace you are going and if you don't, they will come uncomfortably close to you. Rule #1 is to follow and stay in the crowd. 

The unexpected is the other major danger here in China.  Case in point: the pole in the photo above.  You just never know what might be around the corner.  Long-term planning and preparation are simply not a common part of the culture and the Chinese, in general, are some of the best jerry-riggers in the world.  They are also quick thinkers and very adaptable people.  Things here are not built to last, they are built to be patched and jerry-rigged and repaired.

Everyone has experienced this scenario: you are walking and you see someone approaching you, someone who plans to walk past you.  You move to one side or the other, declaring your intention and they do the same and, before you come within reach of each other, it is fairly clear who is going where and nobody bumps into anyone.  Sometimes, however, there is a glitch and the intentions are not in sync and we end of having to stop our stride, blush a bit and say excuse me as we try not to slam into each other. This requires quick reactions, rather than planning and forethought.  When walking on the streets of China, this is a constant occurrence.  You have to be on your toes, you have to react.  I suppose this is probably a common occurrence in many densely packed areas, especially in less-developed, less-organized countries.

To walk the streets of China, you need this mind set.  You need to react and go with your gut, follow your instinct.  You have less time to prepare.  It keeps the brain cells firing and maintains a heightened level of awareness, but can be exhausting.  I see this type of thinking everywhere in China, in all levels of interaction and all activities.  It permeates the Chinese mind and, unless one has spent much time in other areas or countries, seems to be viewed as the only option.

I am not sure if you, who is reading this, will think that this is of little consequence, however, in my mind, this has enormous implication.  It helps to explain much here in China and, an awareness of this mindset, is one of the keys to understanding how China and the Chinese think and act.  Businessmen and women interacting with China must take note.

Chinglish!

FREE HOT PANTS!!!!!

Yep, you read that correctly...free hot pants!!!  I am sure you cannot contain your excitement, but, unfortunately, the short shorts are not, in fact, free.  In case you cannot read the caption above, it says, "In the shopping malls to buy clothes, hot pants can be free / to."  No, I did not make a typo, that is exactly what the sign says (including the slash).  I saw this as I was riding up the escalator into one of the city's larger supermarkets.  Before I inquired as to where I could get my free hot pants, I stopped and read the Chinese, which actually says, "When you buy clothing in this shopping center, pants can be ironed/altered free of charge."  

Chinglish, as this type of language is called, is still very common in China.  In fact, a few years ago, leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, I saw a report on Chinese television about how the government was dispatching people to go around correcting Chinglish signs in the capital.  Needless to say, I have since been in Beijing and it seems they still missed a few.  Yes, English is difficult, being an English teacher, I am well aware of this fact.  However, often times, the correctness of the English is not a concern; all that matters is simply getting some English on the sign.  Often times, it is simply laziness.  One of the most humorous signs I have seen was a yellow "Caution, Wet Floor" sign, placed at the top of a flight of stairs, which actually read in English, "Slip and Fall Down Carefully."  To top it off, it had a stick figure slipping and falling down.  Hopefully, he fell carefully.

So, unfortunately, for the time being, there will not be masses of Chinese walking around in hot pants, however, things change quickly and, who knows what the future will bring here.

KFC gets an "A"!

In the city I live in, all restaurants have a "safety and cleanliness" rating.  An "A" rating is the highest rating, followed by "B" and "C".  Restaurants which get an "A" get a nice, big smiley face, B's get a face with mouth drawn with a straight-edge, and C's get an ugly frown, including angry eyebrows.  Even though red is the lucky color in China, as well as, the color of the national flag, the C face is bright red.  

The first one of these I ever saw was a C rating.  I was in the middle of eating when I noticed it.  I looked around and everything seemed clean enough, so I kept eating.  I have seen about 6 or 7 C restaurants so far and 2 B restaurants.  So far, however, I have only come across one A restaurant, the local KFC.  As far as I know, where I live there are two genuine western restaurants: KFC and McDonald's and I have had no need to go into the McDonald's just yet.  

The KFC I have gone to once: for coffee.  After my coffee was poured and handed to me, the cashier apologized for there being no cream or sugar.  I saw that there was a milk dispenser next to the coffee machine and asked if they could squirt a tiny bit of milk into my coffee.  The cashier said she would have to ask and went and chatted with a tiny young man who appeared to be in  his early-twenties.  The cashier returned to tell me that it was not possible for them to add a tiny bit of milk to my coffee.  After a couple attempts to reason with her, I realized it was futile and left.  

Despite KFC's "A" rating, I will probably not go eat there until I am seriously craving good ol' american food.  There are plenty of knock-off KFCs here and a good number of restaurants calling themselves "western", though I have found that most are nowhere near authentic.  It is a similar situation with the Chinese restaurants in the U.S. and Europe.  Those who have been to China can tell you that Westernized Chinese food is significantly different. Not only is the flavor completely different, American Chinese has almost taken on a culture of its own.  For example, in China you will have a heck of a time trying to get someone to understand what a fortune cookie is, which is something you never see here.

There is a big fancy-looking restaurant right across the street from KFC.  Its sign declares, in large neon letters, that it is an authentic restaurant.  I am a bit skeptical, however, because, underneath the large neon letters it says, in English, "Western Boofsteock".  Authentic or not, I am not interested in trying their Boofsteock.  For the time being, I will enjoy the many delicious Chinese restaurants in the area.  The "C" restaurants have been, so far, the tastiest ones around and the low ratings have yet to deter me.  The KFC may be clean and safe, but it doesn't match your average local Chinese restaurant in taste and customer service.

Man, That Dog Looks Tasty!

Exploring the town yesterday, I came upon this sign which reads, "Princely Dog Meat Restaurant". I turned my head towards the restaurant and saw a short middle-aged woman walk out of the back with a blood-soaked cleaver. Another man, who was sitting in the restaurant called out to me, "Hey! Do you want to eat? It's tasty!" Somehow, I resisted the temptation to sit down and order.

 Eating dog is still very common in many parts of China, particularly southern China where there is a saying that those in the south, "eat anything with four legs besides tables and chairs." I have also heard a similar one, that they will "eat anything that flies except for airplanes." I have seen all sorts of animals in menus and on display at restaurants, including one displaying a freshly skinned cat, ready for the skillet. In fact, just a few stores down from the store in the picture above, I came upon another dog meat restaurant. I wondered, since they appeared to be the only two dog meat restaurants in the area, if they were bitter enemies. Perhaps, I thought, they accused each other of stealing one another's dogs. Maybe they bought from the same source. Were they farm-raised? Perhaps in the US, the free range variety would carry a premium?

 An interesting side note is that dog penis, along with many other animal's penises, are used in Chinese medicine. It is believed to increase the Yang in the body, which would therefore increase a man's virility.

 Years ago, when I was teaching a group of college English majors in China, I arranged for them to debate whether or not it was acceptable to eat dog. I suspected that the debate would be a flop, with everyone agreeing that it was just fine. Little did I imagine how heated the debate would get. One girl even broke into tears saying that her pet dog was stolen by the neighboring dog restaurant and served up.

 Living in China, you tend to get over food aversions rather quickly. I still remember being served an entire fish, mouth to tail, one time shortly after arriving in China. I felt like it was staring right at me. At the time I was very shocked and took only the meat from as close to the middle of the fish as I could. I kept waiting for the fish's eyes to follow my chopsticks. Now, however, I am used to seeing some suck the eyeballs out of the eye sockets of the fish (though I still cannot do this myself). As I type this, I wonder, are you, the person reading this, disgusted and about to vomit or is your mouth watering for some dog penis and fish eyeballs?

"Do You Think It Is Good To Beat Children?"

My interest in playing basketball was recently re-kindled and I am fortunate enough to have a basketball hoop right near my home here in China. Two days ago I was out shooting by myself, just trying to get some exercise, when a young boy, who is perhaps 7 or 8 years old, came up with his own basketball and started to chat with me. We would take turns shooting and he asked me why I am so good. I am, in fact, not that good, but it is easy to look like Michael Jordan when you are shooting with a child who can't get the ball to reach the hoop. He happily shared with me about some local customs, such as Chinese Lanterns, called tiān dēng (天灯) in Chinese, (see picture above) and each time I asked why such a custom was done, he would say, "I don't know, it's just a custom."

 The following day, I was out shooting and the same young boy came out with his basketball again. We started chatting again and he decided to educate me more about local customs and all things China. I often run into people like this in China. Because I am a foreigner and can communicate with them in Chinese, many feel that it is important to make sure that I know as much about China as possible. I once asked a Chinese person why this was the case and the response was, "because it is very hard to understand China and Chinese and we are proud of our country." My impression is that many Chinese feel like their country is perceived incorrectly and bullied and they are trying to set the record straight, one foreigner at a time.

 All of a sudden, the young boy told me that in China, it is common for parents to beat their children when they do something wrong. He asked me if I thought this was a good thing. For whatever reason, this often happens to me in China (and other foreigners who speak Chinese); people will open up about anything and everything. I think it is partially because I am perceived as being safely outside the community. The young boy's mother was within ear shot when he said this, on the balcony hanging laundry on the clothes line. I glanced over to see if she had heard what he said. She appeared to be going about business as normal. I replied that, in my country, there are also people who beat their children. I said I was not beaten as a child and did not want to beat my own children. He replied, "Oh...in China it is also common for men to beat their wives, do you think that is good?" I was a bit taken aback and replied, "I would never beat my wife, do you think it is good for a man to beat his wife?" The boy looked over at his mother, who didn't seem to hear the conversation we were having, lowered his head and quietly said, "no".

 If I were in my country, I would report a conversation like this to the authorities. However, here in China, I know there is nothing I can do about this. Beating children and wives, sadly, is accepted in many parts of China, especially rural areas and smaller towns such as where I live. I felt bad for the kid and we continued to shoot hoops. After about five seconds of silence, he launched into telling me about how he learned about aircraft carriers from a TV program. His face lit up as he proudly said that China has an aircraft carrier and that it is in Liaoning province. Then he asked me, "Do you think it is good to have war?" The conversation went on like this for a while until his mother called him home. I sat there shooting alone, not paying attention to my shot, because I was visualizing what it might look like for his father to beat him and his mother. It is a strange experience being a foreigner in China.

Casual Friday

You can get anywhere in China on public transportation, as long as you don't mind the company. We live in Hainan province, which is an island and life here seems to abide by 'island time'. The locals are also very casual as can be seen from this picture of fellow bus rider with leopard-print pajama pants on. My wife and I were the only ones who seemed to notice when he joined us on the bus. It is very common to see people walking the streets in pajamas. I am, in fact, really enjoying the laid-back lifestyle here and would happily walk around shirtless, except that, being of Eastern European descent, I have much more chest hair than your average Chinese, most of whom have no chest hair at all. Being one of a very small number of foreigners in this city, I already attract plenty of stares, so I will keep my shirt on in order to avoid even more eyes fixed on me.

 It is a strange experience standing out like a sore thumb. I am not sure if I will ever completely get used to being stared at everywhere I go and having people yell out "Hello" just to see if I react. Nine times out of ten, they just giggle if I react at all. Sometimes, it is a relief to go to a city such as Shanghai or Beijing, where foreigners are nothing special and I can blend in. Where we live now, however, is different. I'm not sure if it is because of the heat or what, but everything here seems to be moving in slow motion, at least compared to the bigger cities in China.

 We spent the other day in Haikou, the capital of Hainan Province and, despite it not ranking anywhere close to China's largest cities by population, it felt as busy and crowded as New York City or Chicago. Certainly it is much more densely populated than either of these American cities. We went to the capital to look for folding bicycles, which are commonly sold alongside the traditional non-folding version. The folding kind are nice because we can take them on the public buses and trains and bike around wherever we happen to get off. We would like to explore the countryside so we are opting for traditional bikes, rather than the much more popular electric bikes, which can generally go about 50 km on one charge and are much too heavy to pedal or push if the battery dies in the middle of nowhere.

The island is still relatively undeveloped and we look forward to exploring it before it becomes too developed. The pace of change is very quick. For example, four years go we were completely charmed by the seclusion and simplicity of a place called Dongjiao Coconut Forest (东郊椰林). The other day, we returned for the first time in years only to find that it had lost most of its charm due to the anticipation of increasing numbers of tourists. The most noticeable change was an enormous bridge leading to a huge concrete platform in the middle of the inlet, which completely blocked the view of the ocean and had clearly negatively affected the water quality. I asked one of the locals about this and she told me that a private individual was building a hotel there. She then added, "we do not welcome them". I told her I didn't blame her.

We left the Coconut Forest the same day, disappointed that the place no longer matched our memory of it, but motivated to find new locations to take its place. The only certainty, many say, is death and change. So, in that spirit, we will roll with the changes (which go at breakneck speed here) and keep exploring. As much as I hope to find another peaceful, secluded getaway here on the island, I keep reminding myself that where I am is not truly a source of my peace. Peace and contentment are a state of mind, they come from within, and are not something which comes from outside us.

Returning, Once Again, to China

It has been six days since my wife and I returned to China. It has taken me six days to get a VPN which would allow me to get on to blogger.com and post for the first time. After spending four years in China (2005-2009), followed by four years back home in the US (2009-2013), returning to China again to live is an unusual experience. Though I have only been back for less that a week, I anticipate this to be an experience unlike my first few years in China. I am not only a different person, with a few more years and a few more experiences, but I am returning to a different China.

A lot has changed in the past few years. For example, I am now living on Hainan island, in the south of China. 4 years ago, when I was also living on Hainan island, it took three times longer to go from the capital city, Haikou, in the north to the tourist hub, Sanya, in the south. The reason is that there is now a high speed train which rockets across the island at 200 km/hr (125 mph). It cuts a straight path through the island. Another example is illustrated by the number of electric bikes here. Four years ago, traditional bicycles outnumbered the electric kind. Now, it took me three days before I saw anyone on a traditional bicycle. The e-bikes rule the roads now. Another example is Taobao.com. Previously, you had to go to a large city such as Beijing or Shanghai to get delights such as western-style bread, decent cheese or salty sunflower seeds (they are sweet in China). Now, anything can be bought on China's version of Ebay: Taobao. You can even, in Chinese fashion, bargain with sellers on Taobao.

Though much is different, in some ways, it is as if I never left. Walking the streets of China is just as crazy and dangerous as ever, the English ability of your average Chinese has not improved and fruits and veggies are just as plentiful as ever. More than anything else, I am conscious of a different vibe the air between my home, the U.S., and China. I first felt this going back and forth between the two countries years ago, but now it is more palpable than ever. When you step out onto the streets of China you feel a vibrancy, an energy that is no longer there in the U.S. You feel as if you are part of something historic, a moving forward. You can taste the progress in the air. Everyone is aware that they are going towards something. Back home...it feels like a funeral. Life is comfortable and everyone has settled in. People are groping for something with meaning and purpose. Here in China, you can't help but get caught up in the drive towards whatever it is the country is moving towards. It is quite a feeling.

 The second day after our arrival on the island, my wife and I had to go to the local hospital for a health check. We had gotten one done in the U.S. prior to leaving, at the request of the local bureaucracy. We used their form, but, in the end, they decided we had to do another one. They said it was because the form we gave them was in English. I am not sure if that is the real reason. Fortunately for us, the Chinese woman who accompanied us was able to convince them to just draw our blood.

 While waiting to get our blood drawn, we suddenly heard firecrackers, a very common sound in China. These, however, were set off by a small group of people dressed in white holding a banner which read, "compensation for our dead daughter and baby demanded". The firecrackers were to get attention. Their crying while crouching down kept the attention of onlookers. Our Chinese friend told us that she had heard about this on the news. Apparently, the woman and child died during childbirth and instead of going through the "normal" procedure of negotiating compensation with the hospital, they had gone straight to this method of protest. They were throwing pieces of yellow paper into the air, something which is done after the death of a loved-one, and screaming and wailing.

We were led into some sort of waiting room. All of a sudden, every single staff member, nurses included, ran outside to see what was going on. My wife and I were left alone. After a minute or so, we got up and went out to see what was happening. The local police were involved in a tug-of-war with the protester's banner. Our Chinese friend told us it was the first time she had seen such a thing. She was clearly embarrassed that foreigners had seen such a sight in China.

 I overheard a young Chinese nurse say, "These people should go through the normal channels to get their compensation." An older man nearby chimed in, "I wonder how much money they will get." The man who was looking through our paperwork a few minutes ago said, "The police aren't doing a good job. They should be more forceful in taking away the banner." I wondered how the family must have felt; and the doctors and nurses who were unable to keep the woman and child alive. I found it unusual that nobody seemed to be talking about that.