Apparently, the Chinese find the word to be as funny as I do, from my aunt to graduate students to random high school student I ate with at a Chinese "Texas Steak" fusion place.
If you think about it though, it is kind of a funny word. Someone mentioned that it was an onamotapoiea (I don't know how to speel that word and I don't care). How gross is that?
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
At my aunt's house...
...watching my cousin play up to six hours of the Sims 3 every day trying to fulfill his goal of getting his hot-shot sports star character to score with every single woman in Simtown.
Playing video games, I think, is the only therapy available millions of Asian kids every year. What would you do if you had to begin studying out of your mother's womb? There's no sense of community now that the city has exploded in its growth, simultaneously sending friends away and conveniently trapping one in his own private room, so hanging out is just too out of the way to happen. Kids are forced to memorize and regurgitate information that's tedious and completely uninteresting. Real psychological therapy isn't even an option. It reminds me of my own boring, lonely, really-into-math childhood. Hell, I'd choose being a Level 40 warlock over that life, no contest. Or a rich government bureaucrat.
One of the college students in Zhenjiang explained it to me well. After recalling some friends that had to drop out of school for playing too many video games, he framed it (at least in my mind) as almost as a race to escape from real life by either playing too many video games or by becoming ridiculously rich (by Chinese standards, anyways) as compensation for having their asses beaten by chemistry textbooks.
Anyways, maybe one of the reasons that the Chinese can be stereotyped for being selfish is because they had their childhood stolen from them.
Playing video games, I think, is the only therapy available millions of Asian kids every year. What would you do if you had to begin studying out of your mother's womb? There's no sense of community now that the city has exploded in its growth, simultaneously sending friends away and conveniently trapping one in his own private room, so hanging out is just too out of the way to happen. Kids are forced to memorize and regurgitate information that's tedious and completely uninteresting. Real psychological therapy isn't even an option. It reminds me of my own boring, lonely, really-into-math childhood. Hell, I'd choose being a Level 40 warlock over that life, no contest. Or a rich government bureaucrat.
One of the college students in Zhenjiang explained it to me well. After recalling some friends that had to drop out of school for playing too many video games, he framed it (at least in my mind) as almost as a race to escape from real life by either playing too many video games or by becoming ridiculously rich (by Chinese standards, anyways) as compensation for having their asses beaten by chemistry textbooks.
Anyways, maybe one of the reasons that the Chinese can be stereotyped for being selfish is because they had their childhood stolen from them.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
And by later...
...I mean now. I'm in the "mood" now so I might "as" well continue "writing."
When tourists come back from Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, or some other major city, the naive, ignorant traveler will inevitably utter something along the lines of "But really, I was so surprised, China is just like New York" or "China is, in fact, not a third world country; the people are so wealthy."
In fact, venture forth in any cardinal direction away from the center of the city and you'll see that Shanghai and Beijing are not at all representative of China as whole. They are anomalies, islands surrounded by a sea of people that by American standards, remain very poor.
All this has put quite an interesting perspective of my environmentalism and my anti-consumerism. I can see why consumer culture is so important in China. For the first time, people know what wealth means because it is tangible and can be easily seen in all the major cities, even though the vast majority do not and most likely cannot experience this wealth. Still, this is enough for most people to make wealthiness and a comfortable life their life goal. It is a driving force, perhaps the single most powerful motivation for 1.6 billion Chinese. Anti-consumerism, without a baseline consumer culture, when most people have never had a taste of a comfortable life, is not a valid philosophy; rather, it is hating the poor.
Take Jiangsu University in Zhenjiang. Jiangsu Province is one of the most rapidly developing areas in China and its average living standards are high above the national average. Zhenjiang lies right along between the famed Shanghai-Nanjing corridor, which has become a shining example for how the rest of the country should develop. As a member of the elite class from an elite nation, I was quite proud of my ability to withstand cold showers for a week, my abstaining from air conditioning, and my expert and intimate knowledge of squat toilets. Extreme, I thought. In fact, this is one of the most developed areas in China. My amenities are above average.
Knowing this, quite frankly, I would never want to live like an average Chinese lives.
In one sense, anti-consumerism is a concept that can only arise after development is complete. Psychological revolt to privilege and the status and wealth it brings is in fact the highest privilege possible. Only the rich and the most privileged can really turn their back on this stuff because they can easily gain it back. As truly the most privileged .0001 % in the entire world, I am of course no exception. Though there are many aspects of consumerism in China that can be tweaked, modified, and improved, consumerism in China is necessary evil, a stage that is needed in order to reach a higher and more enlightened stage of development.
When tourists come back from Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, or some other major city, the naive, ignorant traveler will inevitably utter something along the lines of "But really, I was so surprised, China is just like New York" or "China is, in fact, not a third world country; the people are so wealthy."
In fact, venture forth in any cardinal direction away from the center of the city and you'll see that Shanghai and Beijing are not at all representative of China as whole. They are anomalies, islands surrounded by a sea of people that by American standards, remain very poor.
All this has put quite an interesting perspective of my environmentalism and my anti-consumerism. I can see why consumer culture is so important in China. For the first time, people know what wealth means because it is tangible and can be easily seen in all the major cities, even though the vast majority do not and most likely cannot experience this wealth. Still, this is enough for most people to make wealthiness and a comfortable life their life goal. It is a driving force, perhaps the single most powerful motivation for 1.6 billion Chinese. Anti-consumerism, without a baseline consumer culture, when most people have never had a taste of a comfortable life, is not a valid philosophy; rather, it is hating the poor.
Take Jiangsu University in Zhenjiang. Jiangsu Province is one of the most rapidly developing areas in China and its average living standards are high above the national average. Zhenjiang lies right along between the famed Shanghai-Nanjing corridor, which has become a shining example for how the rest of the country should develop. As a member of the elite class from an elite nation, I was quite proud of my ability to withstand cold showers for a week, my abstaining from air conditioning, and my expert and intimate knowledge of squat toilets. Extreme, I thought. In fact, this is one of the most developed areas in China. My amenities are above average.
Knowing this, quite frankly, I would never want to live like an average Chinese lives.
In one sense, anti-consumerism is a concept that can only arise after development is complete. Psychological revolt to privilege and the status and wealth it brings is in fact the highest privilege possible. Only the rich and the most privileged can really turn their back on this stuff because they can easily gain it back. As truly the most privileged .0001 % in the entire world, I am of course no exception. Though there are many aspects of consumerism in China that can be tweaked, modified, and improved, consumerism in China is necessary evil, a stage that is needed in order to reach a higher and more enlightened stage of development.
Back from Zhenjiang
I haven't updated my blog in a while, though this isn't due to a lack of effort. Rather, it seems that no matter where I go, my Yale VPN becomes banned after one usage.
The solution I think is Starbucks, in which I may freely browse as much blogspot, wordpress, Google scholar, and gay porn as possible.
I left Shanghai last Saturday to come to Zhenjiang, which is smaller, more rural, etc. I've been
hanging out with a couple of graduate students. They have been teaching me crass Chinese words and I they...
I had my first intimate moment with a squat toilet the other day and it is one of the hardest things to do ever. Your knees become so sore and you have to clench your teeth to avoid falling in, but luckily I am sculpted like a Greek god. Apparently, back in the day, toilets were just one giant pit. One of my friends said that every Chinese kid who grew up in the countryside has had at least one experience where he fell into the toilet, which actually means a giant pit of poo. Also apparently, this place is famed for its beautiful women. Do you see what I did there? That is called juxtaposition in the literary world.
I enjoyed my time in Zhenjiang and I will write more about it later.
The solution I think is Starbucks, in which I may freely browse as much blogspot, wordpress, Google scholar, and gay porn as possible.
I left Shanghai last Saturday to come to Zhenjiang, which is smaller, more rural, etc. I've been
hanging out with a couple of graduate students. They have been teaching me crass Chinese words and I they...
I had my first intimate moment with a squat toilet the other day and it is one of the hardest things to do ever. Your knees become so sore and you have to clench your teeth to avoid falling in, but luckily I am sculpted like a Greek god. Apparently, back in the day, toilets were just one giant pit. One of my friends said that every Chinese kid who grew up in the countryside has had at least one experience where he fell into the toilet, which actually means a giant pit of poo. Also apparently, this place is famed for its beautiful women. Do you see what I did there? That is called juxtaposition in the literary world.
I enjoyed my time in Zhenjiang and I will write more about it later.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The beginning of consistent posting
After two weeks of on-and-off VPN access and trying to go through proxies such as MYSPACEATSCHOOL.com, it seems that, finally, I will be able to write consistently in this blog. Three cheers!
Now, to begin, I'm in Shanghai conducting research on Chinese attitudes and perceptions towards private car ownership and its consequences, particularly those regardingthe environment and urban development. Right now, I'm in the "survey" stage. The other two stages will involve interviews/observations and statistics from the government. To make the sample as random as possible, I planned to interview students. The problem is that once I got to China, I realized that classes would end in two weeks and so, I've been hustling to the max trying to get things done. Didn't really occur to me that Chinese students got a summer break...how foolish! Furthermore, because I was planning to do this at another university as well, I will also need to go back and forth between Shanghai and Zhenjiang, which is about an hour north. It looks like I will be pretty busy in June with little to do in July. So all in all, much hustling.
Well not really. I've actually been wandering around aimlessesly much more than to not feel guilty about. Despite my attempts to fit in as a native Chinese, people can still tell I'm foriegn. As I exit the train station at the People's Square (which is ironically the most capitalist, ritzy place in all of Shanghai and possibly all of China now), several people have come up to me and immediately practicing their English on me as if I had blonde hair, a stupid hat on, or was wearing a fanny pack. I asked some of them how they knew I was foriegn. They played it off pretty well at first..."you just have a foriegn aura to you" (can you be any less specific?), "you had english on your shirt" (well so does everyone) until finally the truth came out, 鼻子好大阿! which translates to "Whoa your nose is huge!" Well YOU, miss, have stupid hair and probably also have weak arms. You know, on my last trip to China, a fortune teller once told me that I had a "money-making" nose and my mom says she really likes my nose. So there.
As for the living situation, I have currently run back and forth between my various uncles and aunts. As anyone who reads wikipedia might tell you, China has a population of 10 billion people and as wikipedia might tell you once more, through a series of complex equations, on average everyone has 8 uncles and aunties in China. As a mere mortal, I am no exception to this rule. The first week or so, however, all my uncles and aunties combined forces to quarantine me at home due to 1) H1N1 and more likely 2) My general bumbling stupidity at anything practical. Pretty understandable.
Perhaps the unifying theme no matter where I am living (or where I go so far) is the fact that everyone I see wants me to get fat. I am not joking in the least bit here. I quote from my aunt directly:
"I just want to see you get fat. If you come home and have gained weight, I think my responsibility to your mother has been fulfilled."
I eat almost four dinners a day. Its revolting. More on this later. Eventually this blog will become a vehcile for me to rant about waste and consumerism - basically, what I usually rant about.
Luckily, though, there is a gym close by, which I have gone to exercise several times. Interestingly, the idea of GETTING SWOLL AS SHIT has arrived in China. The owner of the gym, who is there every day, is definitely one of the more interesting characters I've met. Picture your favorite middle-aged professor, friendly, intellectual, smiling. Now picture that head on a body of a fucking gorilla. Like 500 pounds, 6 foot 4. Now put a working-class wife beater on him and some long, super-classy chinos and imagine him deadlifting 900 pounds of iron in a shoddy, Soviet Union-1950's-style gym, asking people if they are tired yet and sometimes poking your obliques to check their rigidity and swolleninity.
All in all, I am immensely happy to be back here. I am attached to China. I love seeing my family, I love Shanghai and Zhenjiang, and coming back has just solidified my longing for this place to permanently be a part of my life.
Anyways, I'll be writing about my adventures and observations throughout the summer. Take a look when you can and send me links to YOUR blog.
A shiny new buick...
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The view from my house...
...unfortunately is the only thing I've really been seeing the past few days. Well, to be more specific, it turns out all colleges close before June 20th or so, so I have to get the random survey (read: the bulk of my research) done these first three weeks. Didn't see that coming. I also realized I don't even know how to speak Chinese. It looks like the next month and a half, though, will be much further.
I arrived in Shanghai last Wednesday. My mom's sister and her husband came to pick me up in a brand new car amidst nearly hundreds of identical looking cars at the airport, something they were obviously proud of (both their specific possession and the more general car environment). I wrote tons of notes during my myriad trips in cars, in public buses, and walking around about how cars can destroy communities, how they promote a consumer culture, how they are a secret race of robots from the planet Zernoth bent on enslaving the human race, blah blah blah. Well actually no. I thought I would be unequivocally negative about cars, but actually, my view on cars has somewhat changed. I'll devote a couple of blog posts solely to cars later but do you really want me to rant this early in my blogography? Maybe. I'll go ahead and say no, though.
Meanwhile, I've spent way too much time in this tiny room pretending to do work than I should be (the JE library all over again), but things are really starting to roll now.
For now, some pics of the view from my window (its a neat little district! No annoying foreign hipsters, distinctly Chinese, etc.):
I arrived in Shanghai last Wednesday. My mom's sister and her husband came to pick me up in a brand new car amidst nearly hundreds of identical looking cars at the airport, something they were obviously proud of (both their specific possession and the more general car environment). I wrote tons of notes during my myriad trips in cars, in public buses, and walking around about how cars can destroy communities, how they promote a consumer culture, how they are a secret race of robots from the planet Zernoth bent on enslaving the human race, blah blah blah. Well actually no. I thought I would be unequivocally negative about cars, but actually, my view on cars has somewhat changed. I'll devote a couple of blog posts solely to cars later but do you really want me to rant this early in my blogography? Maybe. I'll go ahead and say no, though.
Meanwhile, I've spent way too much time in this tiny room pretending to do work than I should be (the JE library all over again), but things are really starting to roll now.
For now, some pics of the view from my window (its a neat little district! No annoying foreign hipsters, distinctly Chinese, etc.):
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