First candidate on the left

American election, Chinese style. This morning, as election night began in the US, my friends and I began election morning and afternoon in China. We got our teachers' permissions to skip the first class of the day, and went to a cafe in Wudaokou, where they had the election results coming in on a projector. As results came in, the diverse, (and very liberal) crowd of Americans, Germans, Chinese, and more clapped and whooped as states were called for Obama, and hissed when Romney or the Republicans made gains. We anxiously and, at least on my part, mostly ineffectively studied Chinese as we waited for polls to close and the final result to come in. When Obama was projected to win the election with a projected win in Ohio, the crowd cheered and clapped as a few organizers for overseas Democrats thanked people for coming and invited everyone to have a beer on them. We waited for Obama's speech and then went to class.
Meanwhile, as we listened to election results from the US, China began its own process of choosing its leaders for the next decade. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party began its incredibly opaque process today in Beijing, bringing with it heightened security measures noticeable everywhere from the internet (incredibly slow and unstable) to Chinese activists (forced to leave the city until the end of the Congress) to the Beida campus (ID cards checked on arrival with about four times the usual number of guards at entrances) to taxis (window cranks had to be removed) to shops (knives are not allowed to be sold) to all things flying (no balloons, kites, or pigeons can be flown).
Certainly somewhat different than the American method for choosing its next leader.

My red tie made some people think I was a Romney supporter, which earned me some looks of concern for my mental health