Blogging Hiatus

As my last two posts (read them here and here) indicate, recently there have been a rash of Internet 'problems' plaguing Mainland Chinese netizens. This combined with the fact that finals are quickly approaching again, and that I'll be leaving China in less than a month, means this blog will most likely be on hiatus until I return to the United States.

I know you're all very sad to read that last statement, but don't fret, I will continue to write posts and post them when I can. It's just that recently this has proven to be more and more of challenge with the Internet behaving the way it is.

Also, I have a lot of photos I want to share with you, but considering most days I'm just happy to be able to access my e-mail account, those will definitely have to wait until I return to the US & American high-speed Internet.

So while I'm taking a break now, stay tuned for lots more to come later.

Also, here are three more stories on China's Internet crackdown. Even if you're not that interested in the subject of Internet censorship in China, you should read them for a good laugh at the irony of the situation:

• "Father of Great Firewall" blames cost-cutting measures for recent Internet problems in China
• Shoegate: Students pelt "Father of the Great Firewall" at Wuhan University
• Reaction to 'Shoegate'

Theories abound for overseas web access troubles

Here's another article on the current Internet situation in China, this time from The Global Times.

My favorite portion of the article is on the second page, towards the end. It reads,

"An anonymous official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology declined to explain why foreign websites were frequently inaccessible in a telephone interview with the Global Times, and instead urged users to 'check their own technology problems and with the websites' servers on [sic] the first place'"

Hahaha. Sure, China, whatever you say.

For the record, I have checked every possible source for my Internet problems and every single time I'm lead back to just one possible answer.

Clearly, subtlety has never been China's strong part.

Suspicious Internet issues

Since a week and a half ago, my building has been have some "interesting" Internet issues. If you've been in contact with me this past week, it's likely I told you or even experienced firsthand how unstable my connection has been.

At times, the Internet connection would just shut itself down completely. Other times, the Internet connection was fine (it was even fast), but all I could go on were the major Chinese websites, such as Tabao, Baidu and Youku, but no international websites whatsoever. Even more perplexingly, there were even times where it seemed completely normal (for China).

It has been so fickle, that I have come up with my own eight-level system of classifying my Internet connectivity based on what programs can connect and what websites I can log on to. (I won't bore you you with the actual eight levels I came up with though.)

Obviously, the most annoying thing about not having a reliable Internet connection was not being able to get into my e-mail. Though Gmail has been blocked several times before, normally I had other ways to access it. However, last week proved to be a real challenge.

So far this week (knock on wood), the Internet seems a bit better. It's still rather slow and finicky when I try to gone on some international websites and particularly Gmail, but I can deal with it. Hopefully it stays this way. That's all I ask for.

For some more information on the Internet issues currently facing Internet users in China, take a look at the below article form the China Digital Times. Pay special attention to the latter half of the article, since that's what largely seems to be what's happening in my my case.

Unfortunately, I could only give you a screen print of the article, so it maybe a bit blurry. Click on the image to enlarge & read.

Click to enlarge
Article courtesy of the China Digital Times

For more information, there seem to be many other articles on the topic currently on the China Digital Times. I'd normally post the links myself, however my Internet seems to go down for several minutes each time I try to log on to the CDT website.

That's not obviously suspicious at all. Ha.

Sidenote: In attempt to inform students about what is going on with our Internet connections, BNU actually posted notices in the international student dorms. Normally, notices are only posted in Chinese (after all, you are here to study Chinese), but this time it's actually in Chinese, Korea and English. In the notice it informs students that the connectivity issues are beyond the scope of BNU's tech support and that we should always comply with China's Internet laws and not visit illegal websites. Clearly BNU wanted to get the word out to all students regardless of our the level of our Chinese comprehension and discourage us from bypassing the Great Firewall.

Walkalator

Without a doubt, the best thing about being in Beijing this past year has been the to opportunity to reconnect and see family and family friends that I haven't seen in many years, not only in Hong Kong but also in Beijing.

One of these family friends I've reconnected with is the eldest daughter of my parents' close friends, named Ivy Tsui . When my family still  lived Hong Kong, she and I were neighbors. We played together often, and attended the same preschool.

Now, Ivy is a contemporary dancer based in Hong Kong. However she is currently in Beijing for a short while dancing with a company that brings together Hong Kong and mainland China dancers together.

As a result, I've had the great opportunity to two separate contemporary dance performances that she's been a part of since coming to Beijing. The performances (along with Ivy herself) have been great and eye-opening. I'm sure if it weren't for Ivy's participation in the shows, I would've never gone to see the shows on my own.

Below are two site-specific dance (dance performances outside of the traditional theater setting) videos that featuring Ivy and her fellow dancers. The videos and dances themselves were directed by Ivy's good friend, Alan Wong and were filmed in at the Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station.

If you have a free moment, the videos are definitely worth a look!

Enjoy!

Wu Guanzhong

Since coming to Beijing, I've been trying to broaden my horizons and enjoy the burgeoning art scene here. I'm hardly an art expert in any sense or really that knowledgeable about the art scene in Beijing or anywhere else for that matter, but I have quite enjoyed discovering and looking at art not only in museums, but in the art galleries around the city. Though originally finding and visiting galleries at first was a means to an end to find something simply to do, it's proven to become a bit of hobby during my time here.

Granted, during my time in Paris, I was also very interested art. How could you not be, after all? It's Paris! With so many amazing and renowned pieces showcased all over Paris, it'd be a shame to not enjoy and appreciate it. However, unlike in Paris, where my obsession was visiting every museum I possibly could, visiting galleries in Beijing is a definitely a different experience (not necessarily for either better or worse).

One of the painters I've discovered while in China is Wu Guanzhong (吴冠中). Wu Guanzhong was a very renowned contemporary Chinese artist who blended Western techniques with Chinese brush painting techniques to create paintings that I find amazing. I particularly like his landscape paintings, especially those of the villages in Southern China.

Now here's a humorous story for you relating to Wu Guanzhong:

Last week, I was out in the 798 art district to see a completely separate photography exhibit, when I happened to stumble upon a gallery with many Wu paintings (actually, most likely reproductions) on display and of course, I walked in to take a better the works on display. As it turns out, the gallery had many Wu Guanzhong paintings/reproductions for sale, hence the exhibition. While I roamed around the exhibition, one of the gallery curators came up to me, started talking to me about how the paintings and how I could also choose form a catalog of Wu's other works to purchase, if I liked.

Apparently, to this curator, I looked like I had enough money to spend on purchasing a reproduction (the prices all seemed to start at 1,500 RMB and upwards). Thoroughly amused, I chuckled, smiled and politely took the curator that I unfortunately did not have the money to invest in a piece of art.
Never in my life would I think that someone would approach me about buying art, thinking that I even remotely had the money to purchase any. Even though the paintings/reproductions actually weren't that expensive as far as art goes, I still couldn't afford it. But I did like that the curator thought I could. Haha.
Anyways, if you have time and are curious, take the time to look up Wu Guanzhong. I think you'll like his paintings as well.


Articles on Wu Guanzhong:

• The Telegraph obituary (Includes an interesting portion on Wu's life during and after the Cultural Revolution)
  
• NY Times obituary
• Gallery of works

Yabaolu: Russian-town

Last October, I posted a few pictures from an area of Beijing that I half-jokingly called 'Russian-town,' where shop and restaurant signs seemed boast more Russian than Chinese. Although I termed the area 'Russian-town' as a sort of joke or tease, there is a relatively large Russian population in Beijing and the rest of China. In Beijing, much of the Russian population is centered around the Yabaolu area

Yesterday, The Global Times online Metro Beijing edition ran an interesting story on the large Russian population in Beijing. If you're curious to learn more about the Russian population in Beijing (like I am), you can read the article here.

Please note that the term 'Russian' both in the aforementioned article and in terms of the 'Russian' population of Beijing doesn't only refer to citizens to modern-day Russia, but also includes citizens of countries that used to be apart of the USSR, including (but not limited to) Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, etc.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share that article with you since it related back to something I posted a while back.

Happy Wednesday.

More Wine in a Can

Yes, that's right. Apparently one wasn't enough. There are actually different varieties of wine in a can in China.

May I introduce to you, "Sparkling Chardonnay" in a can's sister, "Sparkling Rose" in a can?

Classy, I know.

The Road of Rejuvenation: a lesson in Chinese history, according to the CPC

As I mentioned in my previous post about my visit to the Chinese National Museum, the one of the main exhibits, entitled "The Road to Rejuvenation," chronicles Chinese modern history from 1840 onwards. However, to call it it an historically accurate exhibit would be quite a stretch, a point highlighted in a New York Times article entitled, "At China's Grand New Museum, History Toes the Party Line."

Now of course, in general, national history museums of any country, not just China, are not the best places to go when searching for the most accurate historical accounts of a nation's history. However, the exhibit on modern Chinese history seems to take historical revisionism and blatant pro-Chinese Communist Party propaganda to a new level.

Inside the exhibit, which is aptly named, "The Road of Rejuvenation," you can find plenty of flaunting of what the CPC (the Communist Party of China) considers it's greatest achievements, including mementos from China's first voyage into space in 2008. But you'd be hard pressed to find any actual mention of any of their failures, such as The Great Leap Forward and the resulting famine, Tian'anmen Square Massacre or the Cultural Revolution.

Perhaps the best part about this very biased exhibit however, is the very bombastic language used in their explanations. Many of the statements in the summaries and captions seem straight out of a bad Communist Party propaganda novel. Needless to say, I found many of them highly amusing and almost made my two hour wait in line worth it.

Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead so I have no (good) pictures to share with you, but I had my cell phone camera to help me record some of crazy things written in the exhibit.

Below are some quotes from the exhibit. I think there are some real gems in there and you'll find them as amusing as I did. Enjoy!

• "The Chinese nation is a great nation whose people are industrious, courageous, intelligent and peace-loving and have made indelible contributions to the progress of human civilization."

• "'The Road of Rejuvenation' is a permanent exhibition showcasing the explorations made by the Chinese people form all walks of life who, after being reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society..., rose in resistance against humiliation and misery, and tried in every way possible to rejuveniate the nation"

• "Today, the Chinese nation is standing firm in the east, facing a brilliant future of great rejuvenation. The long-cherished dream and aspiration of the Chinese people will surely come to reality."

• "...the imperial powers descended on China like a swarm of bees, looting our treasures and killing our people."

The Chinese National Museum

As I briefly mentioned in my last post about Labor Day here in China, I had last Friday off in honor of the holiday. Since traveling in China during national holidays seems to more of a lesson futility due to the large crowds of tourists everywhere, I decided to stay in Beijing and visit some places I wanted to see before I leave. Included on that list, was the newly-reopened Chinese National Museum (中国国家博物馆).

After undergoing over three years of renovations, the National Museum recently re-opened after years of arguing and revisions. Historically, the current site of the National Museum was home to two separate museums, the Museum of Chinese History and the Museum of the Chinese Revolution; they were combined in 2003 to make up the Chinese National Museum. In an effort to boost China's (specifically, Beijing's) international standing, the Chinese government decided it was time to renovate and bring the museum up to par (or at least, what they felt like was up to par).

The original plan was to have the museum completely redone, renovated and opened for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, however due to years of arguing and disagreement over the museum's content and endless revisions on the interior design, was not finished in time. Nor was it finished in time for it's second hoped-for end date, which was supposed to coincide the 60th Anniversary of Communist rule on October 1, 2009. Finally, the National Museum reopened just this past March after years and years of delay.

Since 2008, China's museums have gradually begun waiving their entrance fee, in hopes of attracting more visitors. While I appreciate free museum admission as much as anyone, in the case of the National Museum, this seems to have backfired.

Happy Labor Day!

If you haven't looked at a calendar yet today, today is May 1st, which for China and many other countries is Labor Day, or in Chinese, 劳动节(láodòng jié). Since the holiday falls on a Sunday this year, Chinese people have tomorrow off too. (I don't have the day off however, since for scheduling purposes BNU decided to give us April 29th off instead of May 2nd)

For obvious reasons, the United States does not celebrate Labor Day on May 1st. (If you don't know why, do a quick internet search on "International Worker's Day.") But, since I'm in China, I hope you have a fantastic May 1st, regardless if May 1st has any significance (labor-related or otherwise) to you.

Now for some pictures I took almost a month ago at the Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park and Southeast Corner Watchtower.

Side note: I know, I know. I've been slacking on the blogging recently. My sincerest apologies. I know I still have a ton of pictures to go through from Hong Kong and posts to write about that. I blame the weather. It's impossible to stay inside when the weather's been so great these past few weeks. I guess it's probably a good thing I attended college in New York and not somewhere with a warm climate. Haha. On the upside though, it does mean I do have a lot of blogging material just waiting for me to write about. So stay tuned!

Best of intentions, the most misguided of results

If the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (or as I will refer to it, the BMCE) has anything to do with it, soon all college students at Beijing universities will be required to take a course entitled, "Mental health for College Students" with a expanded section on 'relationship skills.'

According to the BMCE's plan, students would take a 16 to 18 hour class for one course credit. The course itself would cover nine chapters and follow a recently re-drafted syllabus outlined by the BMCE.

Upon hearing this news, I didn't know whether to laugh at be absurdity of it all or shake at my head at just shake my head at how misguided this entire idea seems.

After all, if love and relationships could be simply defined and outlined in a textbook, there wouldn't be millions upon millions of books, poems, songs, blogs, and even Twitter tags on the subject matter. But while many may wish it were so, relationships and love do not follow any set path nor do they they all fit in a certain mold. Perhaps if it did, then we could all take a class in high school, be done with it and literally move on with our lives.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works. What works for one person does not necessarily work for the next person. In fact, I'd personally argue that love's ability to morph and change according to the people and circumstances around it---much like a chameleon---is what makes it so mysterious and popular topic for literature, music and the like. With this in mind, I cannot see how anyone or any group of people could possibly outline in nine short chapters on what is is the 'right' and the 'wrong' way to handle relationships.