Tony Blair on China

We Can Help China Embrace the Future
By TONY BLAIR
August 26, 2008; Page A21

The Beijing Olympic Games were a powerful spectacle, stunning in sight andsound. But the moment that made the biggest impression on me came during aninformal visit just before the Games to one of the new Chinese Internetcompanies, and in conversation with some of the younger Chinese entrepreneurs.

These people, men and women, were smart, sharp, forthright, unafraid toexpress their views about China and its future. Above all, there was aconfidence, an optimism, a lack of the cynical, and a presence of thespirit of get up and go, that reminded me greatly of the U.S. at its bestand any country on its way forward.

These people weren't living in fear, but looking forward in hope. And forall the millions still in poverty in China, for all the sweep of issues --political, social and economic -- still to be addressed, that was thespirit of China during this festival of sport, and that is the spirit thatwill define its future.

During my 10 years as British leader, I could see the accelerating pace ofChina's continued emergence as a major power. I gave speeches about China,I understood it analytically. But I did not feel it emotionally andtherefore did not fully understand it politically.

Since leaving office I have visited four times and will shortly returnagain. People ask what is the legacy of these Olympics for China? It isthat they mark a new epoch -- an opening up of China that can never bereversed. It also means that ignorance and fear of China will steadilydecline as the reality of modern China becomes more apparent.

Power and influence is shifting to the East. In time will come India, too.Some see all this as a threat. I see it as an enormous opportunity. But wehave to exercise a lot of imagination and eliminate any vestiges of historic arrogance.

The volunteer force that staged the Games was interested, friendly andhelpful. The whole feel of the city was a world away from the China Iremember on my first visit 20 years ago. And the people are proud, reallyand honestly proud, of their country and its progress.

No sensible Chinese person -- including the country's leadership -- doubtsthere remain issues of human rights and political and religious freedom tobe resolved. But neither do the sensible people -- including the mostWestern-orientated Chinese -- doubt the huge change, for the better, therehas been. China is on a journey. It is moving forward quickly. But it knowsperfectly well the journey is not complete. Observers should illuminate thedistance to go, by all means, but recognize the distance traveled.

The Chinese leadership is understandably preoccupied with internaldevelopment. Beijing and Shanghai no more paint for you the completepicture of China than New York and Washington do of the U.S. Understandingthe internal challenge is fundamental to understanding China, its politicsand its psyche. We in Europe have roughly 5% of our population employed inagriculture. China has almost 60%. Over the coming years it will seek tomove hundreds of millions of its people from a rural to an urban economy.Of course India will seek to do the same, and the scale of thistransformation will create huge challenges and opportunities in the economy, the environment and politically.

For China, this economic and social transformation has to come with political stability. It is in all our interests that it does. The policy of One China is not a piece of indulgent nationalism. It is an existential issue if China is to hold together in a peaceful and stable manner as itmodernizes. This is why Tibet is not simply a religious issue for China buta profoundly political one -- Tibet being roughly a quarter of China's landmass albeit with a small population.

So we should continue to engage in a dialogue over the issues that rightly concern people, but we should conduct it with at least some sensitivity to the way China sees them.

This means that the West needs a strong partnership with China, one thatgoes deep, not just economically but politically and culturally. The truthis that nothing in the 21st century will work well without China's fullengagement. The challenges we face today are global. China is now a majorglobal player. So whether the issue is climate change, Africa, world tradeor the myriad of security questions, we need China to be constructive; weneed it to be using its power in partnership with us. None of this means weshouldn't continue to raise the issues of human rights, religious freedomsand democratic reforms as European and American leaders have done in recent weeks.

It is possible to hyperbolize about the rise of China. For example,Europe's economies are still major and combined outreach those of China and India combined. But, as the Olympics and its medal tables show, it is notgoing to stay that way. This is a historic moment of change. Fast forward10 years and everyone will know it.

For centuries, the power has resided in the West, with various European powers including the British Empire and then, in the 20th century, the U.S. Now we will have to come to terms with a world in which the power is shared with the Far East. I wonder if we quite understand what that means, we whose culture (not just our politics and economies) has dominated for so long. It will be a rather strange, possibly unnerving experience. Personally, I think it will be incredibly enriching. New experiences; new ways of thinking liberate creative energy. But in any event, it will be afact we have to come to terms with. For the next U.S. president, this willbe or should be at the very top of the agenda, and as a result of thestrength of the Sino-U.S. relationship under President Bush, there is asound platform to build upon.

The Olympics is now the biggest sporting event in the world, and because ofthe popularity of sport it is therefore one of the events that makes agenuine impact on real people. These Games have given people a glimpse ofmodern China in a way that no amount of political speeches could do.

London 2012 gives Britain a tremendous chance to explore some of thesechanges and explain to the East what the modern West is about. One thing isfor certain: Hosting the Olympics is now a fantastic opportunity for anynation. My thoughts after the Beijing Games are that we shouldn't try toemulate the wonder of the opening ceremony. It was the spectacular to endall spectaculars and probably can never be bettered. We should instead dosomething different, drawing maybe on the ideals and spirit of the Olympicmovement. We should do it our way, like they did it theirs. And we shouldlearn from and respect each other. That is the way of the 21st century.

Mr. Blair, former prime minister of Great Britain, is teaching a course onfaith and globalization at the Yale Schools of Management and Divinity.

homecoming

so i arrived home a few days ago; i guess this is my last post. a few closing thoughts:

about the drum tower: i'm not sure why the man did it -- we heard he was mentally unstable and it was just bad timing for the americans. my chinese friend told me she thought maybe he was mentally handicapped and was manipulated into doing it by ''people who want to harm the olympics'' -- whether she meant tibetans, people from xinjiang, al-qaeda or what, i am not sure. the drum tower is about 5-10 minutes from our hotel so it was quite scary, but other than that we always felt very very safe.

and as for western media coverage, i am 100% disgusted. in my eyes, china is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't. if it has military and police protection of opening ceremonies, it is an authoritarian show of the power of the Communist Party dampening the spirit of the games. if it has less protection, it is irresponsible and begging for a terrorist attack. everything that happens in beijing (and even things that don't happen) is manipulated into a negative light and used to show how much china sucks. it pisses me off even more because i would read things online that directly contradict the experience that not only i had but that everyone i have met had. (such as teh economist's most recent article about the lack of foreigners having fun -- i've never met drunker, louder, happier australians, dutch, or polish people ever)

the only people i met who had negative things to say were the parents of a swimmer that i sat next to on the plane ride home. they were from a small town in virginia and were all around rather narrow minded about china/life. i pretty much brushed off what they said -- if you don't want to enjoy china, you can't enjoy china. (they also proceeded to get tanked in the back of the plane, argue with the steward about how much money they owed and then show me their son's gold medal, which was in the dad's backpack the whole time.) and therefore, if you sat around and complained about all the bad things and missed the architecture, the history, the food, the culture -- then its your own goddamned fault.


The thing about China is this: yes, its dirty, the people are rude as hell, the transportation is taking your life and your sanity into your hands and hoping for the best, its hot, its loud, its smoggy, and its poor. But that is what you signed up for -- if you wanted to have an American experience you should have fucking stayed in America. Because while it is all the things I've listed above, if you have even half opened your mind to other cultures, you can't avoid being completely and totally charmed.

For every rude person, you have 2 who are friendly and kind. (although they are all completely uncomprehending of personal space). They are warm and just, at the end of the day, want to get to know you. They may not have manners, but how many times did we/someone we know lose something (such as AJ's pants with 2100RMB in them) only to have it returned immediately and untouched? 2100 RMB is a month's living expenses. How many store owners remembered us after only one visit and gave us a special place to sit? If you got lost, it was most likely someone would tell you where to go -- months before the Olympics started. For every smoggy day, you had a day where the sky was blue and your jaw dropped at how beautiful the parks and architecture were. For every time you thought it was too big and too shabby, you either found something as charming as NLGX with its cafes and shops, or something as ritzy and glittery as Block 8 or Banana. For every time you had a shitty iced coffee, you had a meal so good (and so cheap) that you nearly passed out you were so full b/c you couldn't stop eating. For every hotel like the HuaKai, there is a Grand Hyatt. And, for every time something gross happened (or you smelled the Yu'er Hutong public bathroom), you remembered that you are in CHINA, which 30 years ago was self destructing in the midst of the Cultural Revolution and now is powering its way toward the 1st world.

So I'm sorry if you think that it is slightly uncivilized -- because it is. China is not the United States, it is not Great Britain, and it is not Europe. But if you thought it was going to be, that's your own fault. The ability to see what it was (the Hutongs themselves, the ladies selling heads of cabbage and baozi on the street) and where it is going (infrastructure like Oriental Plaza, the National Theater for Performing Arts, the Bird's Nest) allows you to see what it is: experiencing growing pains between old and new. Striving to be new and rich and allowed to play with the older kids, while somehow maintaining its own sense of self.

This is not an easy process, and its definitely not easy when you've got other people (US, UK, EU) breathing down your neck at every moment, pointing out your flaws, great and small. Add to that the fact that some of the media is flat out lying about you -- and how do you expect China to react? It is not my intention to excuse their behavior in certain situations -- but it is my intention to make the point that bullying and hypocrisy will get us nowhere, particularly in this situation. The quote of the boat driver to PJ O'Rourke has only been confirmed by my two months in China:

"We just want to be friends."

August 9, 2008: Shit Hits the Fan

Good god, what the fuck happened while I was asleep?

1) Russia invaded Georgia
2) John Edwards admits he had an affair

THEN, at noon, while we were shopping at the Yashow Clothing Market, I get this text from Kristyn:

"cnn is reporting that 2 americans were shot at the drum tower at noon b4 a guy jumped to his death"

So, while we were eating breakfast, a Chinese man stabbed (not shot) 3 people (two americans and a Chinese tour guide) and then jumped off the drum tower (5 minute walk from our hotel, we can see it out the window). Good lord. The American man died and the women are in critical condition.

THEN, Bernie Mac died! WTF?!

tonight we met Chris Tucker at Block 8 though, which was weird in itself. As Matt said to me, the world is going to hell in a basket.

August 8, 2008, 8pm: Opening Ceremonies

In Chinese class, we talked about things we will never forget and today was legitimately something I could never forget if I tried. But just in case, let me talk about it :)

We went to class in the morning and all I could think about was how big of a day it was. Kristyn said that in the morning she just sat straight up in bed and was like "its here!" I was the same way -- its like freaking Christmas morning. I bought a shirt that says 中国加油！ on it and wore it. Around 3pm we set off for the Bird's Nest, China's national stadium. The atmosphere in this city was ridiculous -- I don't think I can really put into words how excited everyone was -- it was literally impossible to walk five steps without hearing someone talking about the Olympics, someone wearing Olympic gear, or someone chanting "Zhongguo, Jiayou!" We got to the place we had staked out to sit (about 1/2 hour walk from the stadium)...and it was roped off. There were security guards EVERYWHERE and no one could get within view of the stadium. Nonetheless, there were hundreds of people there, just wanting to be around the Olympic hysteria. We decided to walk around and try and find another place to sit, but there was no hope. All the Chinese people around the area took pictures of the, well, white people in our group, and sold us "Zhongguo jiayou" headbands and Chinese national flags. We took some pictures and decided our best bet was to go to Wangfujing.

It took us an hour to get a cab. There were police everywhere, maybe every five feet, not to mention legit soldiers. We finally got to Wangfujing and it was pretty crowded. There were huge groups of Chinese people walking around, yelling "zhongguo, jiayou! Aoyun, jiayou! Beijing, jiayou!" or singing the national anthem and waving Chinese flags. But there were also a lot of foreigners -- Hungary, Poland, Mexico and Australia were particularly well represented. Anyway, we walked around and finally found the giant TV screen on which Opening Ceremonies was going to be shown. We sat down because we still had about an hour to go. The heat was, well, pretty typical and we drank some serious water. I'd estimate that there were about 200 people where we were sitting. Finally, with about 15 minutes to go, I stood up because my legs fell asleep. The ENTIRE street was full. Thousands of people had come while we were sitting down and couldn't see. I got chills. The jiayous had started again at this point and the sheer amount of people was unbelievable. KFC, which is on the second floor of the mall across from the screen has a full wall window. People were plastered to it from end to end. We cheered along with them for awhile.

Finally, we saw the screen turn from old footage of Hu Jintao meeting with foreign leaders (during which I'm pretty sure I heard people booing Putin) to live footage of the bird's nest. Everyone fucking went nuts, including us. We were screaming and jumping and jiayou-ing all over the place. It was amazing. They showed the inside of the bird's nest which had a countdown going on. Unfortunately, we didn't quite understand it was a countdown and thought it said "Go Go" instead of "60, 60". Therefore, when it got to "50, 50" Risa and I turned to each other and said "SO SO?!?!" and i thought "god they couldn't get a better translation for the fucking olympics?!" which really shows the translation quality in this country :) Anyway, We counted down from 10 and then all sorts of fireworks went off and it kind of hit me that this was the biggest moment in 1) recent Chinese history 2) some of these people's lives (at least as Chinese citizens). And I was there. Good lord it was amazing. I also just felt such happiness for the Chinese people that it was happening, that it was finally here. I think Kristyn's statement really sums it up: 'China! you DID it!! you DID it!'

The ceremony started with an enormous amount of drummers beating drums in the middle of the stadium. Their drums glowed, but then all the lights went off and just their sticks, glowing red in the darkness were visible. It was breathtaking, but a little scary. It was actually a good example of a lot of the ceremony: 15,000 performers took part and while it was an artistic triumph, I can't help but think that China might not understand that the rest of the world's main fear about them is that there are just SO. MANY. PEOPLE. and this performance did basically everything possible to remind everyone of that.

This beautiful little girl sang the national anthem, and everyone around us joined in, which was awesome. After that, there were many really cool dances and other sweet things (like people painting mountains by doing gymnastics or the people doing gongfu in a circle, protecting children learning in the middle). In the middle of the performance, the TV cut out to a commercial because their coverage messed up. Kristyn noted that at that moment, there was just a collective intake of breath -- what if something terrible had happened and they had to cut away from the ceremony. It was a moment of fear -- what if China's biggest fear actually just happened, though unlikely given the huge security precautions? But it didn't, and coverage came back. Big exhale. Then, the parade of nations started and we got to hear China's reaction to other countries. It was interesting also because the order was not alphabetical but rather by stroke order of the Chinese characters, and since we didn't know most of them, it was a surprise everytime a new country came out.

The Chinese cheered for everyone really, but if you were there supporting your country, and you cheered, they all got up, turned around, and cheered you. It was quite touching, really, they stood up and cheered for the Polish, Hungarians, Mexicans, and all the people at Wangfujing. Also, they cheered pretty loudly for Iraq, Russia and Iran. When Japan came out, some people cheered (about half as loud as usual) but then people started "shhhh!! shhh!!! anjing anjing (quiet!)" the others who were cheering. As the Japanese team rounded the track, "Zhongguo! Jiayou! Zhongguo Jiayou!" started louder than before. Really really interesting. The ladies sitting next to us asked where we were from (in Chinese) and I said "meiguo" so she said "when they come out you must cheer!" Well, we took THAT to heart.

After about an hour and a half of countries, the American team came out and we went completely insane. We were jumping and yelling and screaming U-S-A! U-S-A! and then started a "Meiguo! jiayou! Meiguo! Jiayou!" and everyone around us (all the Chinese people) joined in! Talk about hospitality. They were looking at us and waving and jumping for us. It was unbelievable. Then the camera showed George W. Bush. It got, and I am not exaggerating, significantly quieter. We got quieter. It was awkward. The camera went back and we went crazy again. It is interesting to me that his name is 'Bu shi.' which is the negation of the verb 'to be' (as in, to not be capable of much of anything, including eating pretzels). Anyway, we also noticed that the sheer amount of athletes on the American team took up an entire side of the stadium. The lady next to me said 'no wonder you win so many medals'

Then I was so dehydrated that I had to go home and we had to make our way out of the sea of people in Wangfujing. As we walked back down Nanluoguxiang to the hotel, I noticed that everyone, literally every establishment on our street had a TV and people were watching. It was like something you see in movies or in a textbook. We passed the laundromat and everyone who worked there was gathered around a TV in the back.

Finally, more fireworks went off and we were watching them out of the window in the 5th floor landing and out busts LaoLi, the owner of the hotel so that he could see them too. He was REALLY excited. We said "zhongguo jiayou!" to him and he answered "mianfei pijiu!" (free beer). We went out to the bar to hopefully see some Chinese people and see how excited they were but not too many were out. They had been encouraged to watch at home and it had been a really long day.

Now there's almost a feeling of "where do we go from here?" because 08/08/08 was what we had to look forward to. I am not super into the games themselves so Opening Ceremonies was the climax I guess. It was everything and more that we expected it to be, but I guess now its on to the medal count. :)

One World, One Dream

08.08.08

Well, its finally arrived. August 8th, 2008.

It is so exciting to be here right now; its as if the air is crackling with excitement and electricity. This city has been preparing for this day for seven years, but really China has been waiting for this kind of exposure for almost 30 years. We've seen a lot of preparations in the past month: the Fuwa, the "One World, One Dream" slogan everywhere, Beijing Huanying Ni cartoons, the ads at every single bus stop, the rain every night. We've seen more in the past few weeks: the dress rehearsal of the fireworks, the increased signs of "Beijing 2008", the old people with the "Beijing 2008" tshirts, the young volunteers with their badges wandering around in brightly colored shirts, and most prominently, the half-car odd/even rule. There are banners everywhere, the giant CCTV screen by 东四十条 are constantly playing the '中国加油‘ cheer, the tv screens on the bus showing the torch route.

But now, here it is. Its like we're standing on the edge of a huge hill, about to sled down. As if a huge force was pushing this city (or even this country) forward and we, a bunch of foreign college kids, got swept along for the ride. And now we've reached the jumping off point and the momentum pauses just for a second to reflect -- its the quiet before the storm I think. A good storm, don't get me wrong...but its just this slight calm with the underlying realization that tomorrow is the biggest day in recent Chinese history and that we're going to be there. That's just amazing.

dear SIR:

i've decided to write an angry letter to the economist. i'm sick of their portrayal of beijing lately: they called the people we see everywhere the following:
"The government-organised vigilantes in their baseball caps and “Good luck Beijing” T-shirts patrolling the streets in search of potential troublemakers might look like a throwback to a China of the distant past: an era when no one was safe from the prying eyes of neighbourhood spies."

uhm, seriously? because i'm pretty sure i saw a bunch of them watching old men play checkers this morning AND kristyn/steph/i saw them climb over the railing to the highway to get a better view of the bird's nest. vigilantes my ass. if they are vigilantes, i'm motherfucking batman.

ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3508478

i'm famous?

that's so alias.

today, kristyn told me the following:

the company she works for makes cell phone jammers (my first thought: SO alias) and one of her job requirements is to call european and american companies and try to sell the product to them. she's been doing so for awhile. well, she just found out that they are ILLEGAL in both places, and carry a potential sentence of 1 year in prison in the United States.

when in china...

我的工作很奇怪。

my coworker just came up and gave me something that looks extraordinarily like a jello shot. I kid you not. omg what do i do? another one of my coworkers said to me yesterday: "if you have any questions, feel free to attack me" i felt bad because he's really quite nice but that was just hilarious.

lunch

today i went to lunch during work at this restaurant down the street. pretty nondescript, really, had stuffed chili peppers hanging all over the walls (like stuffed animal stuffed) but other than that pretty standard.

i'm waiting for my food when i notice this girl standing with a giant net. there's something in the net. oh hey look! its a GIANT FLOPPING FISH that she just took out of the fishtank. its dying before my very eyes. she takes it, walks across the room, right by my booth, shows it to the booth behind me, asks them if its okay, they say yes, she walks back with it into the kitchen. the whole time, this fish is dripping water all over the floor and thrashing and splashing as it goes right by me. ive never seen anything like it, not to mention the fact that it was HUGE. it was like the size of leo (paul's roboraptor that is).

gt banana

i've found my new home in China. this was the second week in a row we've gone to GT banana, but its seriously some of the most outrageous fun i've had since we've been here. idk, i guess i'm a big fan of total extravagance. :)

here's a brief description of the place:
all the bartenders are good looking and they juggle sparklers behind the bar. we ordered a drink that is 200RMB ($33) but its 10 glasses with alcohol poured all around them. then they set off the sparklers that line the bar and juggle the sparklers behind that. they then light ten colorful shots on fire and dump them in the glasses, which lights up the alcohol poured around the glasses. i screamed because i thought i was going to catch on fire, and almost fell out of my chair. but it was amazing.

but the most absurd thing about the whole place is the dance floor. it moves. its on hydraulics and bounces up and down to the beat. every so often they release bubbles and fog into the air above it, set off more sparklers, or turn the lights up really brightly and then off again. oh, and sometimes strippers/dancers/singers come out of the ceiling on platforms that hang above the floor. its seriously nuts in there, the whole time. everything is super posh and super sparkely (probably why i love it, i'm a sucker for glittery). anyway, i'm also obsessed with the song that was playing the first time we stepped on the dance floor and discovered that it really did move with the beat. its called 'sunshine in the rain' by BWO (and the singer is actually quite good looking). the second time we went, it was playing while they set our drinks on fire.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_FS9kV3pTrk

awesome.

its cool when you miss lunch with your professor

when in china #34: girls from the front desk (who fought each other two nights ago) knock on your door at 9 in the morning to tell you you have to switch rooms immediately and then proceed to turn off the electricity in your room.

July 25, 2008: Olympic Tickets

We bought women's soccer tickets today for $15 each, can you believe that? We are seeing Nigeria vs. Brazil and Sweden vs. Canada, but only after waiting in line for 6 hours, dodging policemen, and sprinting in a free-for-all race against the citizens of Beijing across a parking lot and standing entirely pressed up against 4 other people for 15 minutes within a ring of guards who were holding hands to keep us in. Basically no other way to describe it really..

July 23, 2008: 毛主席

i bought a wallet yesterday that is embossed with Chairman Mao's face. the irony kills me. i absolutely love it though and shall cherish it for as long as the 58kuai it cost lasts me.

July 18, 2008: Foreign Direct Investment might Make me Angry

Its fascinating to me that now Australia is standing in front of Beijing asking China not to allow Australian investment, but rather to invest in Australia itself.

I used to think about what Mao Zedong would say if he could see China now with its skyscrapers and KFCs everywhere. But now I wonder what Deng Xiaoping would say if he could see this power point about why it is beneficial for China to invest in Australia.

July 18, 2008: English Interviews (你的英文很好）

So I interviewed a bunch of people at work today about "any topic you like" just to see what their English was like. I felt like an asshole, kind of like I was testing them for no reason -- especially since my Chinese is terrible compared to their English. But I DID take this opportunity to ask some questions I'd been wondering about myself. Primary research if you will.

I asked what they thought about the olympics and the most interesting answer I received was that it is important in two ways

1) For the world to see China in a new light. Many people think that China is too traditional, (all winged rooftops and tea and opium) and it is not that at all. The Olympics is pure exposure for China: that it is modern, that it is strong, but also that it is trying to be friendly.
2) For China to actively SHOW the world what it is like. This is not just about cameras coming here and seeing what's what. This is about the people of China cleaning themselves up and putting their best face on -- and hopefully it will stick.

Or at least that's how I interpreted what the dude said. I liked it though. There was this one guy whose english word choices were awesome though: he was from a province w/"strong revolutionary history" and used several terms about revolution and such.

July 18, 2008: Chinese People Have Bad Manners

Today I went to an Anti-Monopoly Law meeting with Zhan Hao (my boss). He was giving a speech about antimonopoly law in China and its affects on possible FDI by China into Austrailia (more about that later). It was pretty boring just because I don't really understand that many technical terms (or everyday practical terms for that matter) in Chinese. There were a bunch of presentations, one of which was in English, and the man who was speaking, a 60yr old Austrailian, was possibly the slowest speaker I've ever heard in my 22 years.

What WAS interesting, though, was the drive over there with Dr. Zhan. He was talking about China, and its people, the whole time. For example, when we were driving, and people were beeping horns, and yelling, and ignoring traffic rules like it was their job, he simply looked over at me and said "Chinese people have Bad Manners." It was almost as if it worried him. Then someone beeped their horn for about a minute straight and he just shook his head, pointed at them and said "see? bad manners". It was interesting to me, just because of the contrast: he is very very highly educated, drives a nice SUV, is a partner in a law firm, has traveled extensively in the EU and the US -- almost, to me, part of the group of people that is forcibly bringing China out of the realm of 'bad manners'.

But he's right. They have TERRIBLE manners. And its not just the transportation system, although that is one of the best examples of it. (Touching the ribcage, breaking out of lines, pushing, shoving, scratching, punching....) In the meeting we were in, I saw at least 10-15 people fall asleep. Blatantly, full on, asleep. Someone's phone rang every 5 minutes and every time, they answered it and talked. It was nuts. So much for respect and 'giving face'.

We drove past the headquarters of CNOOC and that was pretty sweet, given how much its been in the news lately. I'm very much the type of person who has to see something like that to really feel like I'm in the city -- just like I really loved walking by Parliament everyday. Seeing CNOOC really reminded me of where I am and what I'm doing here and also why China is so important, particularly to the United States. I mentioned CNOOC to Dr. Zhan and he said that he knew what I was talking about and commented that my government had shut down their bid for that oil pipeline/drilling rights/whatever.

We talked about Xinjiang and he said that it has many problems, because of the ethnic tensions, and also because many people follow Islam. I don't think he meant it that way, I think it was actually lost in translation, but I wanted to ask more -- what he thought about terrorism and the chances of terrorism coming out of Xinjiang but it really didn't seem like the time. And, I was about to be eating Xinjiang food later that day (and was it good!).

He was talking more about investment in China and China's investment in other places and said "China is NOT socialist. They like to say it is, but it is capitalist (in everything but name)." I'm glad somebody admits it. :) He said that maybe people fear China because "what your country did in maybe 100 years, China has done in 20. Maybe it is too fast. But it is happening." And its true. The law firm we were in was plush and a good example of the way China takes everything to the max. Now we have money, and we have to show it to everyone. Not in a tacky nouveau riche way (although sometimes this is very evident) but more in a see? we can do it too! lets be friends!

At the parking structure, we drove in, he had to roll down his window and ask someone for a ticket. They pushed a button and it came out. Then someone was there to direct us into a parking spot. As we left, there was someone to collect the ticket and someone ELSE to determine how much money was owed and collect it. Dr. Zhan turns to me and says "China has too much manpower. In your country, how many people would be working a parking structure?"
Me: "Zero, everything is automated."
Zhan Hao: "exactly. It took 3 people to get in and out. Too much manpower"
And he wasn't even counting the people directing us to a spot.

Then the symposium happened and I didn't understand much. But I did notice that the use of business cards here is rather alarming. Everyone has one, its like instead of introduce myself, maybe I'll just give you a business card. I've never had more in my life but I think I have managed to lose the ones Abroad China gave me. Its a serious thing here though, and in my opinion, bordering on American Psycho levels.

Either way, at the actual meeting I didn't do much besides write down this whole post in my notebook and covertly do my Chinese homework.

July 17, 2008: WaiguoFan (外国饭）

So we went out to dinner for someone's birthday today, and we drove all the way down Jianguomennei, past the hotel that me and my parents stayed in last time we were in Beijing. It looked very nice. AND, i saw the place where this really really bad French restaurant my mom made us eat at was. But guess what?!?!?! ITS A PIZZA HUT NOW!!!!! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA victory is MINE. :) :)

July 15, 2008: Inner Mongolia

here are my photos: (be warned that the kids i am here with are...uhh...fratastic for lack of a better word)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2416872&l=99ea7&id=2206358

and

...now facebook wont work. so i guess the next link will come when i find some mongolians to help me breach the great firewall.

mongolians located:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2416957&l=c0c39&id=2206358

July 15, 2008: Brief Summary

Work is good. Basically I just sit around and check email and stuff and then once in awhile I get a document or power point or something to translate/revise for my boss. My boss is a partner in the firm specializing in Insurance and Anti-monopoly law. He's nice and so is my supervisor, a first year legal assistant (he just got his LL.M I think). Anyway, they all think I'm getting JD (which I think is because they saw PAD and KAPi on my resume...oops). Either way I like working in the big financial district -- the buildings are insane and you feel very modern and dare I say...capitalist walking through the area. Given that we live in a super super SUPER old part of town, its a nice change of pace. I work with a Korean boy -- he is 26 but a junior at Indiana Univ. b/c he spent a few years doing his military service. He is SO nice but pretty quiet. (When I told Byron that he was quiet, Lau just responded: "he's plotting". typical, no?)

Its technically the rainy season right now. But the weird/funny/kind-of-scary-

actually thing about it is that the government itself is making it rain. (I still laugh everytime I say that...China makes it rain, they make it rain, they make it rain on them hoes...) In order to get rid of some of the pollution as well as to cool the whole city off, they shoot chemicals into the sky during the late afternoon so that it rains every night. Sometimes it really works and there is blue sky the next day. Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes it works WAY too well -- on the fourth of July half the city flooded and our taxi literally floated home. The next day though, the sky was the most beautiful blue ever and it was the perfect temp. Soooooo strange. I said to my boss "the govt actually controls the weather!" and he responded: "the govt controls everything!!" it was awesome.

I haven't met a Chinese husband. No Chinese people really like talking to me at all, actually, its a blow to the self esteem :). I hang out mainly with 4 other girls -- three of them are white so they get a TON of stares, and one of them is fully Japanese so Chinese people think she is Chinese and speak to her. Then when I tell them she doesn't speak Chinese (in Chinese) they give me weird looks and walk away. Its kind of depressing but oh well :)

Last weekend we went to Inner Mongolia as a big group -- it was awesome, but pretty tiresome. More about that later. One of the best parts though? We had to take an overnight train to and from and it was kind of rough on the old bones so my friends and I decided to get massages when we got back. I got a 60 minute massage plus all you can eat and all you can drink afterward for...wait for it...$23. I. love. China. Not to mention it was 10x better than any massage I have ever paid way too much money for at Douglas J. Im debating making it part of the weekly routine (especially since if you go before 5pm its only $12.)

July 7, 2008: Discovery of XiaoXin's Cafe

Email to Paul:
no joke i am sitting in a cafe right now looking at the menu...what do you think a "twoball sundae" is????

get ready for your sundae, kyle. with extra nuts.

June 28, 2008: This Portion of the Great Wall is Closed to the Public

when i say climb the great wall, i literally mean climb the mountain that it was on top of. we went to a portion of the great wall that is closed to the public...closed because it is falling apart and has no safety rails or anything. nobody is allowed up there because it is very likely you will die if you go up. which is exactly what we did, and very nearly died. it went a little something like this:

we climbed up the mountain. it was steep. and made of mud. it was raining. i faceplanted about 6 times.

we got up there. it was really misty. the wall was cool. made out of stone and what-have-you. couldn't really see much else because there was so much mist. kind of like standing in a giant white room.

we climb up a 1 to 2 story high WALL because the tour guide says the way down is on the other side.

the tour guide got confused. the tour guide was in fact a crazy man who lived in the mountains that we paid to show us the wall. he ran up the mountain like a monkey while chainsmoking the whole time. i dubbed him benjamin linus (the crazy guy from lost) because i was convinced he was leading us to our deaths while first playing mind games with us. we walked around for a good 2 hours on top of the wall because he couldn't find the way down. saw lots of the wall. lots of it.

we decide to go down the way we came up. it's been raining the whole time. its basically a mudslide. since i couldn't keep my balance the way up, i for sure couldn't on the way down. i fell around....25 times, basically skiied my way down part of it (with no skis mind you) and slid the rest of the way on my ass.

that's about it on my end. today is tuesday and all i want is a $1 burger but instaed i have to work for 2 more hours, take my hour long commute home and probs eat some chinese food. oh well, could be worse.

June 27, 2008: MIX blow to the Head

HOLY. SHIT. SON. i just went to the ricks o fucking beijing and what the fuck happens but somebody accidentally breaks a glass of vodka tonic, i get hit in the head, and NOW I AM BLEEDING FROM THE HEAD. i just took a taxi home and spoke the best chinese of my life but I AM BLEEDING FROM THE HEAD AND I HAVE TO CLIMB THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA TOMORROW.

June 27, 2008: DayDay Sees Barack Obama

hahahha, my gmail, upon snooping on her message, has provided me with the following ad: "obama wins nomination: nytimes.com" when its usually "beijing massage" because it keeps seeing "brothel" in my emails. i don't need a beijing massage, google, i live above one. thanks anyway tho!!!!!!!

June 25, 2008: More Work Stuff

so i finally got an assignment today: i have to translate a whole page about insurance law. i think i'm totally screwed because that's a bunch of words i don't know. i didn't want to be like 'nope can't do it' on the first piece of work they gave me but AI YA.

the guy who told me to do it said: "if its too hard, don't worry about it. don't push yourself." and i know he didn't mean it like that, he meant it like "don't make yourself crazy if you can't do it" but still, that just made me feel bad so i said i'd try my best. but i can't even find it online anymore, that's how hard it is for me to recognize these characters...so idk. also, the dictionary doesn't really help because you can't search characters.

soooo...updated: i translated the webpage on googletranslate and it got translated into pretty broken english, so i fixed that up. and then my boss was like 'this is so good, your chinese is better than you said! here read this book.' and i just stared at him. i have no idea what to do...at least he's not going to quiz me on the book. i instead had to make a power point off an english text that i already polished for grammar and stuff so it wasn't so bad. i just don't want him to think that i can translate anything. idk man, i feel like the guy from cyrano de bergebac (or however you spell it).

June 24, 2008: First Day of Work

Nothing much to do, email to Alina:
In the more extreme instances of employee misconduct such as stealing, sleeping on the job, or cursing management, certain clauses in the Employee Handbook and Code of Conduct should state that such behaviour is a serious violation of workplace rules and violation will result in immediate dismissal. This, in addition to testimony of a witness (or even video), should provide sufficient proof for dismissal.

work is pretty slow right now. we're not sure what we're supposed to be doing -- the senior foreign counsel mentioned things that we might be working on yesterday but we haven't actually gotten anything to do. we asked the guy who showed us around yesterday but he said he didn't know either (he's a first year legal assistant) and he seems to reading a magazine at the desk next to me. everyone else is on MSN talking to their friends or answering the phone. our internet wasn't working for a second so i was doing my chinese homework all secretly since its either that or read a book about contracts (which would put me to sleep). all in all though, everyone is nice -- i'd be fine not doing anything as long as i didn't always feel bad not doing anything, you know?

June 21, 2008: Initial Thoughts

hey hey hey :)

just a quick message to tell you that i miss you very much and wish you were here!! its been fun here, aside from being so tired every night that i don't socialize at all (i can just see comments formulating in deniz's mind). either way, i have been going to bed at around 10pm and waking up at 7am (all of you that have lived with me can't believe that, i know, but its true). either way, there's no coffee within easy access, but i am forever on the hunt. i know that there is a starbucks (xi ba ke if you will) nearby, but i haven't had any time to myself yet. we have been going on structured tours and stuff but by god i will have an iced latte within the next 24 hours if its the last thing i do.

the people on my program are cool so far -- the girls are very nice, and so are the boys for the most part...but there are about 3...what's a good word...ah, broskis. Literally every morning "dude I was so blackout last night, no man, you have no idea, total blackout, I did so many shots…" and I am just ITCHING to let a "you're SO bad" fly, but perhaps its too soon. The main culprit, while blackout, also told me that he thought that British men had the worst style in the world. It was funny to me, because he was wearing sperrys AND madras all at the same time. I said that I thought they had rather good style, and he said like what so I said nicely cut jeans, blazers, and – "blazers? We always wear blazers where I'm from. Like COLOR COORDINATED blazers! Fuck that man, we always wear that." Yeah because you dress like you are in a ralph lauren commercial. Either way, I informed Lord Suter-Whaley and he said that this kid could "kiss my shiny metal ass". I'm debating whether to pass that on.

we had to take a placement exam yesterday for our chinese class and i must say...not my best work. the kid next to me who is a native speaker kept looking over my shoulder, saying "that's wrong" at my grammar multiple choice answers and then i had to write a paragraph about "my love sport". uhm...what? so of course all the guys in the group were snickering, and i literally wrote. "i like soccer. i like to watch soccer on television. americans don't like soccer, it is not on television. i am not happy." 1) i understand the complete lack of sense of the second and third sentence. 2) i somehow got placed in the highest level of chinese of our group with the native speaker and the PIKE. i am totally fucked.

nothing much to really talk about thus far. i'm bad at these type of emails...i'm uploading pictures to and they'll probably tell a better story than i can. we've been to a bunch of parks and tiananmen square, and saw the olympic "birds nest" stadium -- where the opening ceremonies will be held. today was the first day we actually saw the sky. normally, the sky is this weird gray-green color, i shit you not. its a bad combination of smog/pollution and dust. we were really excited when we stepped outside because the sky was blue...but little did we know that meant that the sun could shine. it is SO FUCKING HOT. i've been chugging water like nobody's business. the funny thing about china is that beer is cheaper than water in some places. unfortunately for me, i'm ASIAN. therefore, drinking makes me hot, red in the face, and tired. so much for a "cold refreshing beer". i should come back when i'm NOT asian (that was for you, deniz and ammar).

i told chairman mao "not now!" today, it was awesome.

June 19, 2008: Arrival

Airplane Ride:

Boring! I couldn't sleep and was so uncomfortable. Oh well...We had one shitty projector screen at the front of the cabin and this was my selection: (and by selection I mean they played them one after another so you had to stay awake/wait for one you wanted to see...if you were so desperate you actually wanted to see them)

The Bucket List (now, to be fair, I like Morgan Freeman but I figured it would end up making me really sad since its about cancer so I passed)
Mad Money (NO!)
Spiderwick Chronicles (FALSE!)
Definitely, Maybe (definitely, maybe, absolutely not)

I got here and the visibility is astounding...ly nonexistant. Everything is gray -- I had read lots about this but it was NOT like this the last time I was here. This is insane.

Five Rings Over China

Okay, so I told myself I wouldn't keep a blog while I lived in China because of my miserable failure at keeping a blog in London. The other day, though, my thesis advisor at Michigan told me to keep a blog. He said he lived in Poland during the last two years of Communist rule (which I had no idea about) and that he couldn't recommend keeping a blog more. Then I thought about all the time I had to sit and think about nothing on the subway home from work every day and decided that yeah, I should do it. Here's hoping that I can actually keep it up (since I only made it to February 2007 in a study abroad period from January to June).

The first month's entries will basically be emails that I've sent to everyone copied and pasted.

As for the title, its supposed to be a shout out to Edgar Snow's "Red Star Over China". I hope you get it, and the implied similarities (of situation, definitely not of journalistic quality).