Off to Myanmar

I am on my way to the airport for my flight to Myanmar, so I will be back in a week with plenty of pictures!

The first defense against the Mongol hordes

Today we went to the Great Wall. The massive steps and continuous climbing made my legs as sore as they have been, especially when added to some basketball that we played after our Friday test. I mostly wandered around trying to find my own bit of wall, finally succeeding around the parts that have fallen into disrepair, where you aren't technically supposed to enter. Other than that, I will let my pictures speak for themselves.

On Friday, after some remarkably terrible shooting and a quick loss to a trio of Chinese college students, some classmates and I went out for dinner and then met up with a few other friends (including a friend from IMUSE) for KTV.

Definitely a good few days.

Eight islands in the East China Sea

The dispute over the ownership of the Senkaku Islands (known by the Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands) has been going on for sometime, but it has been exacerbated by leaps and bounds over the past week. The Senkaku Islands are a group of 8 islands and rocks jutting out of the ocean somewhere between China, Taiwan, and Japan. Oh, and they're oil-rich.
Last week, Japan purchased the islands from a private owner, sparking outrage and demonstrations in China. In return, China recently sent several patrol boats into Japanese territorial waters. The result has been increasingly aggressive language from both sides.
Now, when I first heard about this, it seemed like the run-of-the-mill chafing of a superpower growing in an area surrounded by other countries and interests. In my mind, it is at least partially that. However, there is a lot more there. There is strong Japanese and Chinese nationalism stoking both sides. In China, there is incredibly pervasive anti-Japanese sentiment along with a potentially destabilizing change in leadership at a time of slowing economic growth and small but significant domestic criticism. The Chinese Government would undoubtedly like to draw energy away from domestic criticism, and very well might do so by pushing the Diaoyu Islands issue rather forcefully (thing Falklands under the military dictatorship in Argentina). In Japan, the central government was partially responding to popular support for the measure, but also trying to stop more radical and provocative measures to begin development of the islands.

Alright, enough of the academics and back to China. The reason I bring this up is two conversations I had over the past week. First, my host family asked my opinion on the issue, which I responded to with neutrality and mentions of related issues (like the fact that US never ratified the UN Law of the Sea, making it much weaker on the world stage) along with a condemnation of a violent solution. When I asked my host mother's opinion, she answered in a way that I imagine an American must have responded regarding what is now southern Texas in early 1846. She said, with a face somewhat flushed with patriotism, that the Diaoyu Islands were part of China, and that China should take the islands with any means necessary, including military action. In the background, a CCTV news reporter spoke about the issue as a video of Chinese patrol boats patrolling the East China filled the background.

It should be mentioned that my host mother is originally from Nanjing, so her dislike of Japan is essentially an inborn trait.

It was a Facebook message from Michael, a friend who I met in China last year, that made me realize the seriousness of those feelings. I had told him I would have lots of time free in the winter and that I would like to see him then if possible, which he responded to by saying that he would like that, but that "If the war I'm going to join the army, and my life to defend my completion of the national territory." As my Dad said later, it is language like this that leads to war. I should mention that Michael is a very passionate guy in general, but also quite earnest in his opinions. Also, his grandfather was killed in fighting with the Japanese in the Second World War. 

Some of my teachers I've spoken with are not so adamant as my host mother and Michael, but even one who has many Japanese friends told me that she didn't like the Japanese government (though it sounded like a rather automatic, unbelieving response). 

I don't know what it all means, but I think it is very worrisome. I believe that the government would not at all like to start a war of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands (which are promised protection by the US government), but when passions are so stirred, much can happen. As a professor said in a lecture last spring, it would be disastrous if China's rise to superpower was as conflict-ridden as that of the United States. Just imagine the US-Mexican War, the butchering of Native Americans, Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, Panama, Guatemala, and countless military interventions, not to mention WWI and WWII, but in a Chinese context and a modern scale, accompanying China's rise to power. Let's hope for the world's sake that China's rulers are more level-headed and peace-minded than America's were. 

In other news, I bought my plane ticket to go to Myanmar for Fall Break! September 27 to October 2!

Eighteenth vocab word in the sixteenth chapter

18 进行: be underway; go on (动)

Life and school is underway here in Beijing. I am either busy or should be busy just about all the time. Classes, homework, and constant Chinese drown out most other sounds for the moment. And finishing the Wheel of Time series.

As happens in this sort of situation, many things aren't as I planned them, and a lot of things still need to be done. I need to get a visa to Myanmar and I haven't finished my application to study abroad in the Spring and I should really studying that vocab I missed. Oh yeah, and didn't I say I was going to write my weekday blog posts in Chinese too? Ha!

No worries though. I am getting to the point where I am settled enough to comfortably think about doing other things like buying a bike and traveling and going to KTV on the weekend. And finding better cereal.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and post a few pictures of the Peking University campus on a beautiful morning. We got to have class outside. Really a very nice day.

The China Studies Institute common area - you'll notice the tiny window/door that yours truly almost has to crawl through 

 The weather was so nice that we had class outside!

With Lang Laoshi, one of my teachers

And class goes on

Sorry for the infrequent posting - classes are both keeping me very busy and keeping my content rather boring.

After a weekend spent relaxing and finally reviving completely, I am back in Chinese full throttle. I am now in Chinese 311, a small step up from my previous class, after I found 310 interesting, but slow moving and not challenging enough. Now I am in a class that certainly challenges me, which I like a lot, and that also importantly has very talented students, which makes me feel like I am learning from my classmates rather than being held back or thrown off by them (hearing the incorrect tones again and again can really have an effect on you). After five short days that felt very long and full of classes, I can already see an improvement in my Chinese fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Just wait and see how it will be after a semester!

Days are quite packed, starting for me with a breakfast of cereal or oatmeal (I'm not a big fan of most Chinese breakfasts). If I am lucky, I get a seat on the long (depending on traffic) bus ride to Peking University. Class starts for me with one-on-one followed by class after class with small breaks for food (and homework). Eight o'clock comes, and a bus ride later I am home, wanting to plop down and read or play Chinese chess, but with homework and the new vocabulary ever beckoning. By the time I am home, the rest of the family has usually gone up to their apartment, leaving the grandma watching tv and/or smoking. When I get back, I often feel like the grandma is rather lonely, and I want to talk with her and interact, but difficulty communicating and homework have left that just a dream right now. After I finish studying and relaxing a bit, I go to sleep.

That is my average, and in my mind very busy, day. I am still looking for a good time to throw exercise in there, but I have yet to find a reliable time. Other than that, I am simply busy with school and trying to get to know people without the wonderful, simple, elegant tool that is the English language.

First weekend in a big city

I'm sick with a bad sore throat and a bit of a headache, so I didn't do much. I went to the old summer palace with some other students, and other than that read, watched some movies, ate, and slept.

Also, I have decided that whenever I write posts on weekdays when I have my immersion pledge, then I will also write the post in Chinese. This way, I can practice my Chinese, write about my time in Beijing, and provide entertainment for Chinese speakers with my poor Chinese.

我生病了。因为有喉咙痛，有点儿头痛，所以没有做很多。我跟有的同学去过圆明园，而且我看书，看电影，吃饭，和睡觉。

因为在工作日我必须只中文说，所以我写博客在工作日的时候，我解决又在英文写又在中文写。然后我会练习我的汉子，告诉你们我的故事，和让中文说的人大笑我的错的汉子。

 The old summer palace - 圆明园

 We rented a rowboat！-  我们租用手划船！

 The living room of my homestay - 我的中国家庭的客厅

 From the window of my homestay - 从中国家庭的窗户

 From my room - 从我的房子的窗户

Second class in the third level

Orientation has finished, and class (and with it the language pledge) will soon  begin. I have only met a small number of the 90 or so students who are taking part in the China Studies Institute Fall 2012 semester, but those I have met seem like a good group of people. Of those 90, about 25 are doing the language immersion program.

I have yet to meet more than about 20 people because many people have stuck to the groups of people from their own colleges, and I have had the opportunity to do the same to some degree. William & Mary has six or seven people here, and all of them are doing immersion (and immersion students were groups together), so I had a lot of them around me. I met other people through general information sessions, group introductions to Beijing, and a fun night of pizza and beer tonight in Wudaokou, the main bar and restaurant area for the four or five colleges in north-western Beijing. Several teachers (mostly those who are still graduate students themselves) joined us in our night out in Wudaokou, making the whole affair especially fun.

And with that, our preparation and our language placement are complete. Classes start on Tuesday. I will be going into Chinese Immersion 310 to begin, which is right where I would expect to be after two years.

Until Tuesday, I plan to rest (I am feeling a little sick, so rest seems like a good idea), buy a few things to prepare for class (notebooks, small whiteboard, and electronic dictionary), and perhaps go around the city for a while with some friends and/or my host family. As you can see, not too much to report, and with it no new photos, so I will just add some older ones and make sure to get some new ones soon.

A note: As I said, I will begin my language pledge soon, which will mean that I will only speak Chinese from Monday to Friday throughout the semester. I would lie to hold to this as completely as possible. I would still love to talk with friends and family whenever I can, but I will most likely focus my skyping, calls, and blog-writing to the weekends, when I will have the most free time anyhow.

Thanks for following me so far - I have more stories to share about the last few days, including a rather horrible, cramped, sweaty bus ride and descriptions of Peking University and more, so I will try to get back to them over the next two days. 

A temple in the middle of Hong Kong 

 My friend How points out his college, HKU, from the Peak

 My friend Annie taking pictures of the great view

Tofu of all shapes and sizes at a market in Hong Kong