A great example of lying

http://thepekingorder.blogspot.com/2008/11/china-petroleum-equipment-and.html

This article is from the excellent and funny Peking Order blogspot. Definitely worth a look for seeing what you can get away with as a Westerner in China.

Circuit breakers and will breakers

Last week started with a short meeting between myself and Mr Big Boss. His office is on the floor above ours, and is notably for looking like an empty store room. A skanky old table, two plastic chairs, a state-of-the-art laptop and a flask for holding green tea where the only things in there. He's moved me to the Commercial Department, responsible for finding clients. I'm now meant to find clients in Europe who might want to co-operate with us. The boss' idea was find out the top 100 companies in Europe and find out which ones work in power plant operation and maintenance, eventually getting the list down to 2 or 3, after which we call them up, etc, etc, etc. Now, call my cynical, but I think the chances of a leading European company wanting to co-operate with our company (see below) are not huge. Still, I have to trawl the Internet.

My other task is to translate and proof-read reams and reams of documents relating to the operation of a power station. I've pretty had my fill of circuit breakers now, having spent three days on one 110-page text. Translating a text for the first time is obviously very time-consuming, and efficiency is key. I thought proof-reading would be easier, but it's actually quite tricky (and even more boring), because you only end up half-changing the not-very-good English, when it would be easier to start all over again. It's also almost equally time-consuming, as so much of the English is such that I have to look at the Chinese anyway.

The task of the translator's is truly thankless. Translating from your language into your foreign language is significantly harder than the other way round. I think it's almost impossible for these guys to do it right. The stuff they are translating - circuit breakers, steam turbines, boiler processes, is just excrutiatingly dull. Also, none of them are engineers so have limited knowledge about what they are translating. I've found, despite by best research efforts, I don't understand much of the English I write myself.

The workload is quite a lot now, but that hasn't stopped anyone from engaging in talking on QQ (instant messaging) and watching movies. Although the Internet was cut off last week to stop time-wasting, they seemed to have found a way round it on some computers. Also, film watching and generally farting around have proven adequate replacements. There are two rows, one facing the other offices and main corridor, the other facing outside, so the people sitting in the latter position have a distinct advantage. They can watch Ugly Betty and Heroes in relative safety.

The other reason for the lack of enthusiasm is the company. The management system is non-existent. The head of the Commercial Department is apparently the Big Boss. There is no-one in charge of the translation department. When I asked them who gave them work, they said they didn't know. There is no motivating activities going on at all. Relations between the different departments are visibly antagonistic. I get told off like a school-child if I'm 3 mintues late. The translators intensely dislike the HR Department, "because they control us". While all companies exist only to make profit, this one, and I imagine many of the same sort in China, do it brazenly and don't try to hide it. I quite obviously should be training these guys, but the Boss wants me to earn money for him instead. So the endemic slacking off (I should mention that I'm writing this during office hours) is understandable. I think it's like the school system - everything is done because people are forced, not because they want to, with highly predictable results.

Thus, I'm a bit reluctant to do business with European companies, partly because of all the lying I will have to do. Our website has some guff about 'integrated management system', 'happy workforce', etc. All complete rubbish. The website also talks about "our two hi-tech training simulation rooms are the central part of our training centre". Turns out what this means is that a week before the trainees arrive, we rent out a conference room in a hotel and rig up some computers. Really professional.

The daily grind

End of my fifth week in my new job at an engineering company in Xian, and the end of a slightly slow week. I haven't been given much to do at all, so spent the best part of the week farting about on the internet and chatting on QQ. Today was a little bit more interesting.

Mrs Boss (head of HR, wife of Big Boss) seems concerned about my health, and on hearing I had a migraine earlier in the week, recommended I do 'eye exercises' that all school kids do. (Should be able to post a video of it next week.) It involves rubbing the acupuncture areas around the eyes in various ways to relieve stress, etc. I'm a fraction cynical about it (no surprise there), but everyone is convinced that it is beneficial. I asked why most people wore glasses, and they said because, being forced, they never did the exercises properly.

In the afternoon, the tax inspectors were coming round to check the books (and to enjoy a free large lunch with free alcohol), so they put me in the HR office, which contains the HR boss (big boss' wife) and two or three other members of staff, including a manager. I spent most of the time chatting with the other two, and even Mrs Boss when she came back. Even the manager spent most of her time chatting to me or on QQ. Finally they gave me something to do - translation of electrical engineering theory. They also shared their snacks with me, including something that looked like a twig and smelled like a school physics lab.

The last hour of the week I try and teach English to the translators. I'm going to be avoiding anything to do with China or the cultural differences in the future, as any perceived slight against their motherland is pounced on. I was saying how some Westerners have trouble crossing the road (true) or don't look after their valuables properly when taking the bus (also true). This was interpreted as yet another Westerner attacking and mis-understanding China. The whole patriotism and 'victim-complex', while understandable, gets tiring after a while. One girl spoke fluently about the Terracotta Warriors, but was a direct translation of the guff they learn in school - 'It shows the wisdom and intelligence of the Chinese people, many foreigners like to admire the greatness of our First Emperor', etc,etc.

I think they also might be pissed off I get paid (a lot) more than them, which is true and also pretty unfair. The communication between them and their managers is pretty terrible, there seems to be a lot of bad feeling between them. Mrs Boss thinks they are inexperienced and don't understand the ways of the world, they think they are lied to (which would not surprise me), underpaid and disregarded. I think somewhere in the middle is true, legitimate complaints all round. I have to find a way to steer through it, stay as friendly as I can, which being the foreigner makes it extra interesting. I also said no to Mrss Boss' request that I take part in her daughter's cosplay performance (cosplay being something from Japan where you dress up as computer game characters). No doubt I've caused her to lose face, as well as hurting the feelings of all of China, but I've been to a cosplay thing before, and prancing around as some wizard from the year 3000 with my boss' daughter is not my idea of a fun weekend.

The boss breaks down

Things afoot in the danwei. Last Friday, the day before the boss came back from Indonesia, one of the managers quit. He was responsible for finding pretty much all the overseas business, so there was an unpleasant feeling going round in the afternoon. Also, two other senior staff decided they have had enough, so left too.

The big boss, Mr ***, a stocky and capable lookng man, called everyone into the meeting room on Monday. There he explained what he thought went wrong, and apologised for not communicating enough with his senior staff. At one point he even started crying. I asked my colleague next to me what was wrong with him by way of a passed note, to which he replied 'prentend [sic] to be kindhearted'. Afterwards, everyone had nothing but scorn for his 'crocodile tears', claiming he is stingy and a good actor. Certainly, I try staying out of his way. I feel like I'm the pet favourite of his boss and his wife, which is not great - they are noticeable a lot nicer to me than everyone else, not least in terms of renumeration. So I have to perform a delicate balancing act. I do this primarily be keeping my mouth shut.

They both went out off on business again this week, so the last few days have been even slower than usual. I have some ideas I want to do to help the translators improve their English, but as mentioned in a previous post, I feel it's probably wiser to keep my head down, shut up, and keep talking chatting on the QQ.

More from the danwei

I'm currently at my computer in the office. I have almost nothing to do. I learnt a sentence in Chinese yesterday - 抢打出头鸟，the gun shoots the bird who pops his head up. This was said by a colleague in response to my suggestion that I ask someone to give me some translation to do. I was working on the idea that doing nothing is not the most optimal of my faculties, and that doing translation is something I actually want to do. I don't think he really understood that. I get the impression the ideal working day for a typical low-level office worker in China is to have nothing to do, leaving them free to chat on QQ (chinese msn) all day, with an occassional break for sleeping. I also get the feeling that using initiative is seen as the equivalent of veering off course, so better to sit down and shut up, just follow the middle way.

This might have something to do with something I noticed recently. People like to call other stupid. In schools, you won't get a huge amount of encouragement for doing something different or positive, but if you get something wrong you'll get shouted out and called 'stupid' - 笨 ben, as well as losing face in front of your 60 other classmates. In fact, in the local paper this morning there was an article about how a teacher hit a 7 year old kid for getting a maths question wrong, damaging his kidneys (although I imagine this is an isolated incident). I remember once last year I was on the campus at university studying, and at the table was a mother teaching her young son English. Not once did I hear any words of encouragement, only a shrill 'ben!' everytime he got his fifteen and fifty mixed up. Chinese girls also find it amusing to call their boyfriends 'ben'.

So maybe me asking for something to do is just plain 'ben'.

Week 5 in the danwei

At the end of week three, I accompanied three engineers and two other new recruits from our company to visit the largest power station in this province, three hours northwest of Xian. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of the processes involved in running the power plant, so as to help with the work we do in the office.

The thing that struck me the most was the relatively fresh air (the power station was in the country), and the irony or having to go a coal-burning, four unit (i.e., very big) power station to get some fresh air. The morning was spent wondering round, looking at all the stuff. I asked a few questions, but eiher didn't understand or couldn't here the answers. Inside was a mass of pipes leading all over the place, completely unintelligable to me. Our guide didn't seem to fussed about what we did, so we spent most of the time touching and pressing things we probably shouldn't do, and of course, taking a load of photos.

We took lunch across the road in a small countryside restaurant, although regrettably baijiu (chinese white wine, similar to airline fuel) was considered unwise. After lunch, nobody really seemed to know what to do. We got passed around from one department to the next, where eventually they found someone to lead us on what turned out to be the exact same route as the morning visit. We went into the control room of the each of the units, something like a watered down version of Mission Control. Behind the 2 control desks was another desk where Party officials sat around drinking tea making sure no-one gets upto any funny business.

In the car park of the company hotel waiting to leave, we saw a wedding stumbling out after an afternoon's festivities. The power plant is a self-contained unit, with living, education and recreational facilities for all the thousands of staff. Although the sign on the main gate is that of a pivate company, its definitely a state-owned company, so has many of the characteristics of the the old 'danwei'. I'm sure some people have spent their whole lives living inside the unit, using the hotel for special occasions when needed.

Aside from a load of photos of unidentifiable pieces of equipment and the other staff making 'V' signs, and a free dinner, I'm not sure how much knowledge was garnered. Still, another interesting look at something different.

Week 3 in the danwei

Week 2 ended in rather unspectacular fashion, Friday afternoons drag as much as they do here as in any other office, particularly when I've been used to having Friday afternoons off. And even dress down Friday has been made redundant by a manage decision to allow staff to where casual clothes to work (due to the office being too cold).

On Monday I awoke to find that thing on my leg had turned into a nasty boil (the second in two months). When my boss saw, she immediately took me to Xian's premier skin hospital, despite my protestations. A kind act indeed, although the hospital merely confirmed that it is best not to get ill in China. There was literally rubbish everywhere, the smell from the toilets wafted the corridors, and the huge numbers of people, most of them the 'bu wen ming' (uncivilised) people from the countryside, made for chaos and mayhem. MRSA for all.

The doctor's office was a room with a table with more crap on it, and him sitting behind with 2 assistants, and a melee of people wafting the ticket around trying to get 'served'. Whoever shouted loudest generally got seen, although this meant that he was seeing several people at once. He took a brief look at my leg - maximum 1.6 seconds - and decided instantly what it was and what medicine I needed. When I showed him the marks on my face and the scar from the last one, he prescribed some more medicine. My attempts to find out what actually caused it came to nothing, and things like asking me questions, blood tests, and frankly general hygiene were considered unnecessary. In fact, he said showering too much (once a day) was a problem.

On visiting a Chinese hospital as an outpatient, you first have to 'gua hao', or register, where everyone pays a flat small fee. You then join the melee waiting to get seen. I suggest not going after 11am or 4pm, because once they've shut down for lunch and the end of the day, there is no way of getting seen. Ever. The doctor then prescribes the medicine, you go and get a bill for it, you take the bill to the doctor (or thrust it in his general direction is also acceptable), then go and pick up the medicine (my company picked up the tab). It's suggested that you buy the medicine outside if you can because it's more expensive than pharmacies. In fact, most adverts on local TV are for hospitals. While I appreciate the huge challenges that government faces here in providing medical services, unimaginable to those well-served and numerically small Scandanavians, the government has apparently chosen not to divert significant amounts of new found wealth into public services.

Which brings me nicely onto my next beef (being coked up on various medicines that you don't know is contained within is not good for one's mood) - the buses. Again, way too many people in this country (Greater Xian has a population twice that of New Zealand, this province has a population similar to that of Britain, and does not make it into the top 10 of China's most populous provinces). I know I bang on about population, but it's so true. Every single person in China I've met has told me there are too many people here. There's no discussion, its a fact, and I think it is. There is something very unnatural about so many people squigged into buses, high rise buildings and shopping centres.

In fact, I'll have to write a special on the buses another time. And take some pictures.

As an aside, when I was having lunch on the way back with my boss, a middle-aged woman of significant poise and demeanour despite, or perhaps because of, a short stature, happened to tell me about the Cultural Revolution. She said when her brother was at schoolin the mid 1960s, the students used to climb up onto the roof, throw off the tiles, smash a hole in the roof and throw rubble at the teachers. In between doing no study and abusing teachers and other intellectuals ('Old Stinking Ninths'), students learnt the entire collection of Mao Zedong sayings off by heart, which she can still reel off today. And her husband changed his surname to avoid being sent to the countryside for labour education. The gap between then and now is one of the most interesting aspects of modern Chinese society, which again, more will be written about at a later date.

Danwei Day 8 -

The last 5 working days have spent doing nothing much more than extensive reading of online newspapers and looking at funny pictures of George Bush pulling those faces only he (and monkeys) can do. My assigned task is boning up on power stations. I've got a basic grasp of things - boiler connected to the turbine, turbine connected to the generator, etc, etc - but beyond this, getting into the nitty gritty of the chemical composition of water leaving the hotwell of the condenser and the mathematical equations used to determine the correct position of the superheater has proved not only difficult but also extremely, extremely dull. Thus, I have been paying close to the 'controversy' (brouhaha, if you will) with Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross, and marvelling at how such a civilised, advanced and educated society such as our own can put a story about 3 fantastically unimportant people above a new report about the rapid and intensifying depletion of the planet's natural resources. British media, I salute you!

My internet activities have not gone unnoticed, however. This afternoon, the big boss, Chairman Qu, and his wife (head of HR), took me to a coffee house to discuss a few things. He praised my diligent attitude. If he was talking about my diligent newspaper reading, then he was spot on. He also wants me to arrange events with my foreign friends to get the staff used to dealing with foreigners, to revamp the English version of the website, and to explore possiblities of establishing links with foreign companies. No idea how to do any of this, but it sounds like what they like to call here 'opportunity for personal development'. He also wants me, next month, to move into to an office next to his, so opportunities for newspaper reading may diminish faster than you can say 'Drill, baby, drill'.

(Ed., enough with the newspaper comments.)

Earlier in the conversation, his wife was picking my brains about English education, because they want to send her daughter to England ('best country for education') to attend university. They said English people are nice and conservative, and don't carry guns around 'like those fat Americans'. I tried to introduce the idea that not everyone walks around in bowler hats opening doors for ladies. We didn't have time to get into the difference between a chav and a townie, which is probably best, I don't want to scare them. They want their daughter to be somewhere safe (' a walled university is best'), and somewhere where she won't live with boys, 'because boys will distract her from her studies'. I've been assigned the task of picking a good university and helping her with the application.

Apart from this, the last few days have been, as mentioned, dull. And not just for me. The other translators have an engineering exam on Friday. The guy in front of me spends most of his time somewhere between sleep mode and awake mode, and the guy next to him even started snoring yesterday, much to everyone's amusement. When not vaguely flicking through a book on turbines, time is whittled away by looking at photos of celebrities, chatting on QQ (Chinese instant messenger), and stretching, as well as, of course, napping.

There was an article in the newspaper today (Chinese newspaper) about 9 Chinese engineers who have been kidnapped in Sudan. I love the timing - today, the company sent out the second batch of engineers to their project in, yes, you guessed it, Sudan. And with even better timing, management sent out a request for translators to go to Sudan next year. Number of takers? Zero.

Danwei (work unit) Day 4 - Too many cooks spoil the broth

Today was the key event of the week. An Indonesian delegation came to inspect the possible purchase of a power plant control centre simulator and training programmes. I was meant to be translating. But it turns out one of the Indonesians could speak perfect Chinese, and our boss could speak reasonable English, so didn't actually do much. When I was about to speak, one of the Chinese employees piped up to get in there first. When I was called upon, I didn't understand what the guy said, and from the looks on people's faces, it looks like I guessed wrong. At one point there were 4 different people talking English, so no surprises the Indonesians were looking slightly confused. I was.

Besides from that, I've been boning up on circulating fluridized bed boilers, static thyristic excitation and the electromagnetic theory behind power generators. Some old friends from school physics have reappeared, notably Mr Fleming and his left hand rule, and the right hand rule, which is still yet to be claimed by anyone. I've been given the generator manual to read, and a Chinese-English book on conversations at an oil-fired power station. It's actually quite interesting stuff, just a fraction heavy.

As for the staff, I've yet to properly meet most of them. I mainly hang around with the 10 or so translators who I sit with. One guy, Frankie, big-boned, baby-faced, effete, likes talking to me about the standard topics - hating Japan, China's long history, foreigners are all so rich, the exchange rate, I love your Queen Elizabeth, etc. He also asked me why Edward VII adbicated. They have an exam on boilers next week, so spend all their time gazing listlessly at the computer screen.

Breakfast is served in the canteen from 8 to half 8. Lunch at 12 on the dot in a room on the bottom floor next to the bikeshed. Every time I deliberately don't take a bowl of soup, because I don't want to drink it, and everytime someone brings one over for me. The rest of the breaking is spent chatting or playing table tennis in the room next door. 5.30 sharp everyone goes.

Probably the least satisfying thing is getting to and from work, which is at least one hour on stupidly overcrowded buses. I've had body part rubbed, scratched and stroked today by most of Xian, most of whom have decided that since summer has ended, showering is now optional. Being slightly taller than everyone else I feel like people are burrowing past me like moles, searching for the door and daylight. One guy has been working there for a year, and said with only slight exaggeration that he has never had a seat the entire time. The most moronic is the pushing and shoving to get on, especially when people are still to get off. I sometimes make a point of shoulder-barging them out of the way. I don't think I could get away with that in England, so there's an advantage.

Day One of the new job

Today was my first day working at ***, a company providing contractual services to power stations. After a year and a half of study, and just having the Chinese exam yesterday to prove I haven't been doing nothing this entire time, the chance came around with impeccable timing. Friend of a friend of someone I met once calls me, and a second later, I have a job.

I'm doing translation and English language training. The company is an electricity power generation company, with about 700 employees, 40 translators and projects in China as well as Indonesia, Nigeria and Sudan. All your favourite holiday spots.

First day went quite smoothly. There's an Indonesian delegation coming to the company on Thursday, and I've been appointed chief translator, despite the fact I can't speak Indonesian, the Indonesians apparently can't speak much English, and I still have no idea how to say 'power generation' in Chinese. I was going through some of the documents for presentation, correcting and re-writing the English according to the Chinese. It's not too bad, and should be easier when I can distinguish my operator control module LED panel from my instructor supervision component light display.

My 'team' consists of about 20 people, sitting in 2 rows in a sort of small compartment, i.e., not an open office. The thing that struck me most was how similar it was to working in an office in England. I guess most offices are pretty similar. The transaltors are all 22-23 years old, fresh English graduates out of university. I'll normally be doing 'staff training', although mostly they were speaking to me in Chinese, so that's a bonus.

I'm the only foreigner full-time there, and so there was some interest. The office gay guy - for it was he - was telling me about his undergraduate thesis on the works of Thomas Hardy and his love of Diana, one guy showed me his pictures taken off the internet of Steve Davis playing safety shots (and only safety shots, I might add), and the librarian's second question, after 'Where are you from', was 'What's the richest country in Europe?'. I tried to explain the difference between richest country and richest people, but it was lost.

Everyone was pretty helpful. You clock in with a fingerprint detector. I was given my badge with my number on it - I am now officially employee number A0097 - and a sturdy plastic bottle for drinking hot water out of. You start at 8.30, finish at 5.30 (with no variation), lunch is 12-1, and a break is from 3.45 to 4 in the afternoon. The receptionist brings out fruits and 'candy' for everyone to relax. Apart from maybe not being extremely flexible, it seems pretty good. They pay for your uniform (a suit), you get an accommodation allowance if you don't live in the dormitory, lunch allowance and health insurance. I'm getting a similar salary to that as a foreigner teaching English would get, which will go up in a couple of months if I don't cock anything up. And if I'm really lucky, I'll be spending my next holidays in Khartoum. My bank account will be someone else's name to avoid hassle with various authorities. As for my contract, well, as my visa says I'm a student not meant to be working, we'll quietly forget that. If anyone asks, I'm an intern.

It was quite interesting talking to Head of HR Mrs ***. The market for power generation in China is basically already saturated, she says, so there are now looking to expand futher abroad, which possible projects in Brazil and Pakistan. Maybe I've miss understood, but in 30 years power needs are met here, while countries on the end of Western 'assistance' for years and years now 'desperately need', as she said, Chinese help. Either way, I'd rather go to Rio than Islamabad. But for now, at least, I'll be getting the bus to and from work with everyone else, and taking one more step further into the phenomenom they call 21st century China.

The Olympics continue...

The closing ceremony was a few days ago, but the news channel is still spending half the time showing re-runs, mostly of flag raising and anthem singing. 'Milking' is being taken to a new level. And there's also the Para-olympics to look forward to. As long as there are more chances to wax lyrical about the combining of China's history and the Olympic spirit, bla bla bla, I'm sure there's more to come. The closing ceremony itself, I was at a friend's dormitory, and just when the England bit was about to start, he decided it would be fun to watch a re-run of the 1999 military parade in Beijing for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic. Fun it was.

In the fews days before and after, the TV coverage was focusing a huge amount on what foreign media were saying about the Games. There seems to be an obsession with what foreign media say about China, and not just the West. Comments like 'Taijiki President praises successful games, hopes Games will further improve Tajik-China relationships" were seen all the time rolling across the bottom of the screen. I'm not too sure why it is, but shots of foreigners saying great things about Beijing, Chinese people, etc, were played incessantly. In saying that, it does seem everything went pretty well.

I've had enough Olympics. Next time I'll write about new flatmate, who is quite possibly a direct descendant of a hippopotamus.

Olympics Day I've Lost Count

Too much Olympics, plus the fact that I've discovered other things I have to do other than forming a dent in the sofa have meant I've taken my eye of the ball recently. I keep getting pop-ups on my screen everytime China gets a gold, and some people are lucky enough to get a text message as well. The authorities couldn't be happier, with 45 golds so far, including in things no-one here has heard of, like trampolining and windsurfing. I've got dizzy from watching the f;ags going up and down all the time, and the presenters on TV are starting to grate, their smooth exterior made smoothier by massive victory.

However, that couldn't stop golden boy Liu Xiang getting injured and pulling out of the hurdles. A sort of shock was on the face of the presenters, with them urging restraint and understanding like a hurricane had hit. The official and general attitude has indeed been one of restraint and understanding, which is better than Li Ning got, flying man from the opening ceremony and winner of severals golds in 1984. When he messed up in 1988, he got pilliored, was refused a coaching post and instead made a fortune in business. Although the 40 plus golds might not console his numerous sponsors, everyone else should be reasonably satisfied.

I've only glanced at the Olympics in the last couple of days, but I see that Britain of all countries is sitting pretty in 3rd place, pretty amazing, but not worth a mention on Chinese TV. China lost in the basketball to Latvia, but at least won the 5th/6th water polo playoffs against Italy. And the syncronized swimmers seem to be scopping up some more medals, as well. Unfortunately, I've got a beast of an exam in October, which involved a lot of writing, so I'm having to spend hours a day re-learning characters. That could actually be an Olympic event, who can fill an entire page with the character, with a gymnastic-like grading scale for beauty and difficulty. Although I think this event would be a shoe-in for the Chinese, thigh injury or not.

Olympics Day 8 and 9

Too much Olympic-watching is making me dizzy, so i'll be compressing entries into 2 day sections.

Day 8 was a bad day for the hosts, only the one Gold medal, and lost a few big matches. The oik who makes up half the Men's badminton doubles team was on the losing team, which was a relief - no opportunity for him to take his clothes off again. The studio analysts, mostly regular TV presenters who clearly have no interest in sport, were pretty silent after that. Also pretty silent after failing to pick up golds in swimming, shooting, tennis plus a load of others I've already forgotten.

Saturday night was a bit frustrating. The four channels featuring Olympic coverage were focusing on table tennis, more table tennis, badminton and a repeat of something earlier in the day, meaning coverage of track and field was minimal. 2 minutes before the start of the Mens 100 metres, they finally switch the News Channel, which flicks between events, to the track, just in time to see that Jamaican guy compress an entire life's effort into 9.68 ridiculously quick seconds. It's unlikely to be like that at 11.10pm tonight, when Liu Xiang, gold medallist in the hurdles from last time, goes in the heats.

The medal table in the corner of the screen is currently showing GBR in 3rd place, which is pleasantly surprising after being a bit rubbish in earlier events. Coverage of cycling is minimal, just a few shots of winners crossing the line. But they showed sailing for a bit, and rowing got a lot of coverage, helped no doubt by a few Chinese teams being in contention. The commentary on the rowing mostly consisted of explaining what rowing is, and how England is a 'qiang guo' (strong country) in rowing, apparently one of the 4 'gentlesmen events' (the other three being tennis, snooker and cricket). Which made the commentators even more excited when the Women's 4s beat GBR to the Gold.

I'm currently watching 'The Palace of Honour', a nightly TV programme looking back at the days events. with an audience complete with those plastic things used for applause. Just know they had 8 female electric violinists, with 2 sets of guys behind them river dancing while holding up an Olympic flag and China flag. Cracking stuff. Then a word of congratulations to Asians, who managed to beat some European/Americans in rowing, showing the great ability of Asians. Now there's a piece on Phelps - winner of 8 Gold medals. Plenty of respect for Phelps, but still time for some words that hopefully an Asian will compete and maybe overtake this amazing 'OuMei' (European and American). Asians beating OuMei in things like swimming and athletics seems like a big deal. Maybe, but they'll have to go some, like everyone else, to beat Bolt and Phelps.

Olympics - day 6 and 7

Yesterday evening was spent in the same way as the Chinese President Hu Jintao - watching China play America in volleyball. The team events against teams like Japan and America have proven main attractions. However, USA didn't read the script and won. Not to worry, though, because if you changed channels you'd see yet another Gold in the weightlifting. Speaking of which, in the heaviest women's weightlifting event earlier in the day, what can only be described as a large piece of muscle with a head won another Gold for China.

Fun and games in the badminton. China won the men's doubles - or at least, it looked like the Men's doubles. Turned out to be the Women's doubles. More than a few of the Chinese athletes, weightlifters excluded, look like small boys, it can be confusing. Anyway, the match certainly captured the imagination of the crowd, with plenty of booing for the opposing Koreans. (There's quite a lot of booing going on, especially when China plays Japan or America). And the Chinese No. 1 Mens player seems a bit of a character, striping of his shirt after his semi final and fist-punching all over the place.

Every evening, there is a talk show with the Olympians of the day. Last night was the turn of the women's group fencing team. Unfortunately, they only won silver, which is not going to make you stand out when your fellow countrymen are winning Golds for breakfast. The interview was slightly awkward, being only silver medallists, but the gentle background piano music continued, with a slight riff when someone said something approaching humorous. The audience were all wearing the same clothes, and had all been given two plastic things looking like fingers that are used as a replacement for clapping, clapping being such an onerous activity.

The evening news features the Olympics pretty much entirely, and the News Channel has been turned over to the Olympic coverage for 98% of the time. Yesterday there were a lot of features about the foreigners in Beijing, how much they're enjoying it, showing pictures of attractive blondes renting a bike from a helpful volunteer, etc. Every night on the 7 o'clock evening news, there's a montage of Chinese athletes on the Gold platform, with shots of the flag rising, played against a full rendition of the anthem. Another interesting thing is that they often talk about what foreign media say about the Olympics, with high praise all round. Not least from the President of Armenia, special guest on CCTV9. They also have lots of different features about a whole host of different things, including one of Phelps trying and failing to speak Chinese. His swimming has captued the imagination here, but his tones need some work.

Generally, I think the coverage is excellent, certainly near-blanket. Unsurprising, really. There's obviously cynical reasons for it - ramp up the patriotism, which every country likes, especially prominent in China. But also, the Olympics are in China, and they've waited a long time for this oportunity the outside what China is all about. In addition, they have a huge number of competitors in every sport, so it makes sense to have a lot of coverage. No coverage of Tibetan protests, rather obviously.

China-bashing continues at length in the Guardian.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/16/cctv_quickly_wears_out_its_wel.html
The absurdity of someone who doesn't understand a single word of Chinese talking about what she sees on Chinese TV is apparently lost of this journalist. Yes, it's a mass patriotism fest, but its the same everywhere. The adverts obviously have a presence, but I've hardly noticed them, and at worst you can change channel to one of the many others also showing events. They often talk about the Chinese athletes themselves, running segments showing them training, interviewing them, etc. It's also not true to say they don't show Chinese athletes failing - the crying Du Li, who came 5th in a shooting event, has been featured as prominently as anything else, they interview atheletes who don't meet up to expectations, they've showed a Chinese cyclist crashing into a ditch, and when Japan beat China in women's football yesterday, the commentators were as magmanimous as can be expected. There's also a fair amount of coverage events where the Chinese aren't dominant, especially swimming.

The song for this Olympics is cringy and horrible, but thats more a matter of taste of than anything. Here it is -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1z40f57vzk

All these guys are really famous in the Chinese - speaking world - Singapore, Taiwan, HK and the Mainland, although probably only Jackie Chan is know to Europeans. According to another feature, it's also the most popular choice at karaoke for the the past week. Well, why not.

Olympics - day 5

More medals for China today in weightlifting, diving, shooting, and gymnastics, traditionally strong events. The diving competition seems a bit of waste of time, just give the Gold to China and play for second. The womens (or rather girls) team followed on from the men to win the prestigious team event in the gymnastics. Yesterday evening had another entertaining weighlifting event, this time the Mens 77kg, with a Korean coming from nowhere to beat the Chinese into second place. The Chinese and Koreans have won more medals than the Armenians, Azerbaijins and Kazakhs in the weightlifting, so a lot of face gained there.

However, these events aren't the most popular. Football features prominently, despite everyone being disappointed with the Mens team constant rubbishness. True to form, they went out at the group stage. The women's team are fairing better, however. Similar story in the basketball, with the men just about to beat Angola to squeak past the group stages,with the women already qualified. Badminton and table tennis are bankers for a few more Golds.

Yesterday saw some strong performances in the swimming pool from China, an event targeted for improvement since 2000. In Syndey, 21 of China's 28 Golds came in just 5 events - table tennis, badminton, diving, weightlifting and gymnastics. The efforts to improve in other events, like swimming, fencing, rowing, hockey, and cycling, to name a few, appear to be paying off. More on that, and about the mega-mega superstar-cum-hurdler Liu Xiang, here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/sports/playmagazine/803HURDLER-t.html?_r=2&ref=playmagazine&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The Gold Medallists are treated like heroes. On the CCTV website (Chinese BBC), people have written love letters proposing marriage to their favourite champions. However, of more interest, and easier to understand that Chinese, is this selection of photos of George Bush pulling more faces. One of the captions reads 'On leaving the Opening Ceremony, Bush doesn't forget to pull a face'.
http://news.cctv.com/society/20080813/106976_10.shtml

Last week, I made an Olypmic-related gaffe. Someone was asked me about Tian Liang, which I pretended to half- know. I said what's that again, turned out to be the name of an athlete. A woman? No, a man. Gymnast, yeh? No, diver. Famous? Very, won a lot of gold medals, now retired. Oh, that Tian Liang, yeh all comes flooding back now...

To help avoid appearing like the stupid laowai (foreigner) at dinner, here's the three most popular Chinese athletes.

1) Yao Ming(姚明）; basketball; 7ft6; flat head possibly caused by cot being too small and head pressed up against the end。
http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=LIU+XIANG&in=28079&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=16&rn=1&di=1777786728&ln=100

2) Liu Xiang （刘祥）; hurdler; Athens Gold medal; first Gold ever for China in running events, proving Asians can compete with the rest (his words).
(see above)


3) Guo Jingjing （郭晶晶）; diver; loads of medals; as prettiest member of female Chinese Gold medallists has right to appear in copious number of Coke adverts.
http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%B9%F9%BE%A7%BE%A7&in=19981&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=21&rn=1&di=2262713140&ln=2000

Olympic blog - day 4

The main event at the games today from a Chinese point of view was the Men's Team Gymnastics. No prizes for guessing who won that. In so many of the events where China has won gold, they've won it by miles - weightlifting and diving, particularly. The Men's Gymnastics was another. From the first event until last, the commentators were having an absolute ball, as well as the studio presenters.

What made this victory particularly sweet was two things. One was China came above America and Japan - China's main opponent in the medal table is America, and Japan is the 'auld enemy'. The Chinese National Anthem, in fact, which I can now sing having heard it so many times, is about resisting the Japanese in the 1930s. The other was that, in Athens, this same team was expected to win gold but messed up and got nothing, so this time they have redeemed themselves. A montage of the team slipping off the beam and falling over at the dismount 4 years ago was contrasted with the perfection of today, and was the main item on the evening news.

Yesterday evening also had a gripping Men's 69kg Weightlifting, gripping in the way that uninteresting sports suddenly become unmissable during the Olympics. The South Korean was leading after the first round, but in his first lift of the clean and jerk, twisted his ankle and that was that. And it was a close one for the audience too, as the 190kg weight rolled off the podium and was stopped only just in time. One of the coaches of the Azerbaijinis was arguing with the marshals. Just when you thought everyone had finished, out comes one of the Chinese pair and lifts 197kg, thus helping himself in one fell swoop to the Gold Medal. Again.

Olympic blog - day 3

Day 3 was actually spent at the swimming pool - that is to say, me personally, not watching the Olympic swimming on TV. My running bombs, although unappreciated by the lifeguards, put the Chinese Olympians to shame - no way could a wafer-thin 13 year old Chinese girl outdo me in this event, I don't care how many gold medals she's got. And move over Michael Phelps (known in Chinese as 'fei pu er si'), my doggy paddle is being perfected in time for London. My 'splashing other people', somehow still not an Olympic event, despite the inherent skill required, not to mention comedy value, was also a high points scorer (although again, not with the lifeguards).

I did have time to catch some other events, mostly involving China winning and Britain losing. Britain lost in the men's and women's team archery to China, as well as the women's singles, again to China. We also lost in the badminton, again to China. And in the diving, it was another case of China being stupidly better than everyone else. The Western competitors seem too broad-shouldered for diving, unlike the Chinese people who slip into the water almost unnoticed.

The main event of the day was the basketball, China vs USA. Although China lost, as expected, it was what everyone was watching, a chance to see how good China is against the world's best. They certainly took defeat well, but then with so many medals, who wouldn't.

Olympics -Day 2

More golds for China, firstly in the faux-shooting 'air pistol' events, and then in the Women's 10m pairs diving. One of the Chinese pair, Guo JingJing, is a huge celebrity in China, and I thought that after all the adverts she's been in recently she might be tired, but not at all. A British pair were also in this event, and finished 8th - out of 8. Good work, girls. Watching the events with Chinese people means I think I'm going to come in for a lot of stick over the next two weeks.

The afternoon was spent watching the Women's Team Archery, which received full coverage. The bow looked like some sort of futuristic orthopaedic leg rather than something Robin Hood would have used. Bendy piece of wood and string would return the sport to something approaching its origins. In the first semi-final, UK played China, and lost. And to make it even worse, UK lost by 2 points in the bronze medal play-off to France. The Koreans, did, however, beat China and are second in the medal table. The medal table is a permanent feature of the news channel, occupying the corner the screen, and its looking good for China. Everytime someone wins a gold, they're sure to thank the country and government for the support.

Not all was lost, however, as coverage showed a Brit winning the women's outdoor cycling. I think the rain probably made her feel at home. The cameras even showed a rider sliding off the road and careering into a concrete ditch, and we she had fished her bike out, it turned out to she was Chinese. A short piece also showed the gymnasts messing up, most of them in fact Chinese, although looking at the size of them, it appeared that it was past their bedtime, so perhaps understandably tired. Football, diving, and weightlifting are the other events that have featured prominently - not so much the swimming.

The big event of today is at 10.15pm local time - China versus America in basketball. This is huge, and everyone's going to be watching it. Basketball is massive in China, and the 7ft6in Yao Ming, who was purposefully bred by making his two super-tall parents get married, so I've heard, is the star of the team. No medals on offer in this match, but you can already sense the satisfaction that would be produced by a China victory.

Olympic Blog - Day 1

I'm going to attempt to blog for every day of the Olympics. I'm not in Beijing, I dont have a press pass and I don't have people fawning over me to make a good impression. I'm seeing it the same way as most people in China are - on t'tele.

Last night's opening ceremony was pretty extravagent. The main thing that struck me was how over-blown the Olympics is. I thought it was meant to be a meeting of amateur athletes to partake in a sporting event. But now it is a huge corporate event, regardless of where it is held. The ads on TV are constant. The Chinese hurdler who won gold in Athens, Liu Xiang, and who is now hugely famous because of it, has probably not had anytime to train with all the different products he's been endorsing. There's something quite odd about Olympic athletes encouraging people to drink Sprite and eat at KFC. But then the Games is hugely bloated, where governments and companies can acheive their differing aims. I must have seen the word 'Haier' (an electrical goods conglomerate) a million times today, as it bestrides the desks of every broadcast studio.

The ceremony itself was as expected, I imagine. What some guy has flying/running round the outisde of the stadium roof has to to do with Olympic spirit, I am yet to realise. There was the presentation of China's 5000 years of civilised history. The best sight was when the Chinese team entered the stadium.The American contingent was huge, but was dwarfed by the enormous Chinese team, which occupied fully half the track. China has competitors in every event for the first time. It seems the stage is set for a mass hoovering-up of medals by China.

This feeling was reinforced this morning. The first gold went to Croatia, but it wasn't long before China nabbed a couple of golds to go head of the medal table, I position I think'll they keep throughout. I've moved my desk into the living room, so I can study and watch at the same time, a perfect recipe for effective study. And I also have an Olympic guide to tell me when the next un-missable bout of fencing will take place.

My morning was spent watching the Woman's 48kg weighlifting, live from the Beijing Aviation University Sports Centre. There always seems to be someone out of their depth in events like these - like that swimmer from Equatorial Guinea in Sydney. This time it was someone from the weightlifting power house of Nicaragua. She came and went so fast I'm not sure it was the airfare.

This was in stark contrast to the Chinese competitor, Chen XiaXie. While the others where busy failing to pick it up, dropping it, and wobbling around, the Chinese competitor succeeded in all her attempts and won by a canter. An ominous sign for the rest, I think.

The second gold was earned by PangWei in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. For an event classed under 'Shooting', it was extremely dull and safe. If they used one of those toy guns that fires ping-pong balls, it would be more entertaining. A North Korean guy got bronze ahead of two Americans, so don't know whether he gets in trouble back in DPRK or not.

Coverage on TV is blanket. There's CCTV1, CCTV2, , CCTV7, and CCTV Olympic channel, as well as related programmes on local satelitte stations. You can watch everything for free on the Internet, although you'll also be watching a lot of adverts for a select few products. Some shops have set-up TVs outside so you can sit on the pavement and wonder how beach-volleyball is an Olympic event (along with softball and Equastrian). Sports no-one ever watches suddenly become fascinating - taekwondo, cycling, air pistol. The gymnastics remains one the better events to watch, although there's something slightly voyeuristic about watching people centimetres from paralysis.

In the woman's 'Shooting', the Chinese competitor came fifth and cried in her interview, a rare admission of failure. But with so many competitors in so many events, a few 5th places aren't going to dent the confidence. I'm currently watching the first round of the Woman's Volleyball, where the tallest women in China are pummelling the tallest women of Venezuela. Although the Olympic flag is white, you get the feeling that the colour of this Olympics is red, red, and more red.

Excellent article on surveillence and business in China and America

Excellent article on surveillence and the business of surveillence currently booming in China and America (and Britain). Well worth a read. The content touches on aspects other than the main topic, such as life in Shenzhen, the undescribable creation that is testiment to state capitalism in Southern China. The second to last paragraph is most salient:

"China-bashing never fails to soothe the Western conscience — here is a large and powerful country that, when it comes to human rights and democracy, is so much worse than Bush's America. But during my time in Shenzhen, China's youngest and most modern city, I often have the feeling that I am witnessing not some rogue police state but a global middle ground, the place where more and more countries are converging. China is becoming more like us in very visible ways (Starbucks, Hooters, cellphones that are cooler than ours), and we are becoming more like China in less visible ones (torture, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention, though not nearly on the Chinese scale)."

I think this is an extremely insightful view, albeit actually fairly obvious with clear thinking, and one that I have entertained for a while.

Having said that, a friend has just sent me one of those 'embarassing George W Bush' pictures, only this time of former President Jiang Zemin picking his nose in forceful fashion, so this surveillance still needs some work...

Enjoy!

Excellent article on Chongqing and the changes in China's cities

Chongqing is an enormous city in South West China, and by some counts is the world's largest, yet a lot of people have never heard of it. The article below is a really interesting insight into Chongqing, and some of the changes in China's cities. Definitely worth a read.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/07/12/sm_china12.xml

Enjoy!

New Statesman article on the Olympics

A disappointing piece of journalism by Lindsey Hilsum, about the 'no-fun' Olympics.

http://www.newstatesman.com/asia/2008/07/beijing-olympic-rights-china

Yeh, OK, the 'authorities' are pretty paranoid about what bad things might happen during the Olympics, particularly involving foreigners. And, yes, they're keen that no-one starts 'disstenting' before or during the Olympics, because they know the whole world will be watching - who would want to be embarrassed? But that is about the only reasonably sensible point that I can find in this article.

Above all, the article displays the cultural ignorance and pre-decided stereotypes that mars so much of Western impressions of China, not just journalists. Comparing the atmosphere in Sydney 200o to Beijing is ridiculous. Maybe its fine in Australia to go out and "party", drink in parks, and engage in what many Westerners see as just a bit of fun. But cultural attitudes, not just paranoid politics, is probably the main reason why the authorities don't want people "partying" all the time. Rarely in China will you see people enjoying themselves the way people apparently did during the Sydney Olypmics, so to suddenly expect Chinese people and authorities to allow and promote it is a bit much.

And lets's no forget, it's only 30 years ago that China was a country with virtually no contact with the outside world. To judge it by standards afforded to countries like Australia, and to expect it to adapt to our cultural expectations, is extremely short-sighted.

The article continues: "The Chinese government, it seems, does not care how much it costs, nor whom it pays, provided the Games look good on television. The aim is a picture-perfect Olympics". Well, dur. Who wouldn't? They have a choice - leave the pollution as it is, or do something about it. It's pretty obvious what is going to be chosen, and its also pretty obvious the reaction of Western journalists if they didn't take these measures. Also, linking these pullution cutting measures, however temporary, to the 'no-fun', 'paranoid' attitude of authorities makes no sense.

The Chinese government doesn't want foreigners causing trouble. What about London 2012? Do you think the British government would allow foreigners with a gripe against the government - Iraqis, Afghans, Palestinians, etc - to protest during the London Olympics? I think not.

Such journalistic attitudes as expressed in this article reach China, and more and more people are aware of these attitudes. And they're not impressed, which only further leads them to support the ugly patriotism and nationalism that the government very actively fosters. Attitudes like these, rather than encouraging the Chinese government to be more responsive to its people, play into the hands of the Chinese government, allowing them to stoke up irrationalist nationalist sentiment, which is of little benefit to anyone apart from the authorities this journalist so derides.

Guardian article about UK graduates working in China

Good article on UK graduates working in China published recently in the Guardian. I think it's spot on with most of the points it makes, particularly about the language, the culture and 'doing business' in China.

The thrust of the article is the sense of opportunity for people here, particularly Westerners. I think it's generally true, I personally also have the feeling that there is something interesting going on here, and that feeling helps make up for the pollution and over-crowding.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jun/07/graduates.workandcareers3

Enjoy!

Interesting China blog

Below is the web address for a fantastic blog on China, which everyone with half an interest in China should take a look at.

www.danwei.org

Very professional, very insightful, with a huge range of interesting articles, videos, etc.
I had a quick browse just now, and found this funny 2 minute video about Chinese people learning English. Check out the policeman at the end...

http://www.danwei.org/events/speak_a_english.php

Enjoy!

Sunday in Huxian

Huxian is a small town about an hour and a half from Xi'an. The father of my friend who's wedding I attended earlier this year lives there, and he invited me over to see look at some ancient relics that are frequently found in the surrounding farmland.

I'm never ceased to be amazed by the changing landscape here. Not so long ago, Huxian would have been a small town, surrounded by small villages and miles and miles of fertile, flat farmland, with the Qingling mountain range to the south in the distance. Now, the last half an hour of a the journey, much like the first half an hour, is noticeable for the landscape - a mishmash of huge flyovers, highways, farmland, cleared lands waiting to be built on, the remains of old villages, and the blurred silhouette of the mountains. From the bus, you can see farmers working the land right up to the enormous 4 lane expressway that has been scytched through their fields. Huxian town itself is like a mini-Xi'an, hard to imagine what it was like 30 years ago.

I address my friend's father as 'shushu', uncle, in accordance with custom. He's very keen on ancient Chinese history and culture, and revels in tellng not just the 'laowai' (foreigner) about it. He's also extremely hospitable and generous, as most Northern Chinese are. I guess you could call him 'old school' - bought up in the Cultural Revolution, and with almost nothing in common with young Chinese. A lot of the time its hard to understand what he's saying, but I wouldn't want to disagree anyway, so a lot of head-nodding aids conversation.

He wanted to show me a small shop, which specialises in collecting and selling items that have been dup up around Huxian. In ancient times, Xian was the capital of China, and Huxian, being close to Xian, was also highly advanced, meaning its an archeologists paradise. The shop was located down a small, leafy side street, and without local knowledge, I would never have known about it.

Inside was a treasure trove of often remarkably preserved items, packed onto shelves in no particular order. Being the site of the ancient central bank, the land around Huxian is awash with old copper coins, with more than a few more than 2000 years old. Most of these coins are on sale for less than 20p. Also on display were all sorts of everyday items, bowls, plates, etc, including one item that looked like a squashed, flat hour glass, but turned out to be a container for spitting into. Outside were similarly old stone ornaments used for tieing up horses with monkeys carved on top, as monkeys were the guardians of horses in ancient China (so I'm told). Several items, kept out of view, were of such value as they are not allowed to be taken out of China.

However, there was a catch. Even though my 'shushu' is friends with the boss of the shop, he wouldn't normally allow people just to come and look. So my shushu said that I was the Xian representative of an English travel company, looking to bring foreigner tour groups to Huxian. He seemed to have no qualms about telling whoppers to his friend, and by the end of it, I was getting quite into it, asking the boss about what he could promise my clients, future investment opportunities, etc. I felt a bit uncomfortable 'pian' - lying to - this guy who was being very hospitable and giving me 1500 year old coins as a gift, but there wasn't much I was going to do about it. And besides, they make a fantastic souvenir.

I wanted to know how they could be so sure all the items were genuine and how they knew how old they were. It seems they just 'know', and I didn't press it too much. The stuff is literally dug up in the field by farmers, who then sell it to the boss. When I was there, a boy comes in with a grubby looking pot, unearthed that morning. The boy wants 50, the boss is not budging from 30. It's sold for 30, and later I'm told that its worth at least 200 in Xian, maybe 500 in Beijing. I feel less bad for lying. It may be a place for culturalists, but there's also money to be made.

In the afternoon, we walked down the same narrow street which houses many different workshops and residences of various artisans, collectors, etc - a street of genuine culture, I found, rather than the awful 'bigness' of Chinese cities. One shop had on display old shoes, about 8-10cm in length, of the type worn by Chinese women over a hundred years ago. In feudal China, upto about 1911, all women from the age of two or three had their feet bound to prevent them growing. I'm told that is was mainly done because small feet were considered beautiful, so much so that a woman with 'big' feet would 'jia bu chu qu' - not be able to get marrried off. How times have changed - know the key is to be tall, which is a lot less pain-inducing than foot-binding.

One workshop was that of a middle age woman doing traditional Chinese paintings. The workshop itself was nothing more than a room with walls covered with hanging paintings, calligraphy, a table for painting, a whirring ceiling fan to alleviate the heat, and behind a curtain, a small area for living quarters. The table looked onto a window, from which could be seen people playing mahjiang outside under the shade of the trees. A girl about my age came out and started talking to me. For consistency, I kept up the 'tourism' facade, but when my 'shushu' came out with the tea, he said who I really was - turned out the woman was his sister, and the girl her daughter, and we didn't have to lie to them. Conversation was in Mandarin to start with, but then drifted to their first language, local language, at which point I gazed around at the huge paintings of flowers and mountain scenery, and indecipherable characters written in black brush on red backgrounds. After some more tea (and an ice-cream with the daugther) and browsing more antiquities, it was back to the home to the smog and breath-defying heat of Xian.

It was great to actually see some of the 'culture' that people here love to talk about, but rarely experience in everyday lives. There is a lot of culture here, you've just got to dig a little to get it.

Jia you Zhong guo!

Friday, 4th July, 2008

6.30am Wake up. Earlier than planned. Anticipation in the blood.

6.31am Rub head. 36 degree weather and oven-esque room causing morning headaches.

6.32. Discover no laduzi (upset stomach). Relieved. Wipe sweat from head.

6.37am. Have shower.

6.39am Finish shower. Dry.

6.42am Continuing drying. Sweat unceasing.

6.45am Pack clothes for washing. And camera. Check battery. OK.

6.47am Double check camera packed.

7.00am Walk along TianTan West Road. It seems more people than usual.

7.05am Arrive at ChangAn South Road, busiest main road in Xian. Usual mishmash of vehicles completely absent. Streams of people heading north.

7.10am Pass countless street sellers selling Olympic memorabilia. One T-shirt reads 'China Refuelling!' (A rather too direct translation on 'Jia you Zhong guo' - 'Come on China!')

7.20am. Nearing the route. People everywhere. No cars (apart from black Audis with important people and their wives/mistresses in).

7.30am. Walk along route, looking for a good spot. Being the tallest person around definitely an advantage. Check watch. Surrounded by the red flag of China, and the white of the Olympic flag.

7.35am Look for grassy knolls. None spotted.

7.45am Film crowd scenes. Everyone in high spirits, excited, adorned with red hats, head-bands, etc. Decide to postpone Tibet-related practical jokes.

7.55am. Begin to tire. Wandering what they'll have in the canteen for lunch.

8.00am Various police vans, offical cars pass by. Extremely bored looking police officers line the inside of the route.

8.10am Anticipation rising. Chanting becomes more regular.

8.14am. Crowd surges forward! Somethings happening!!

8.15am False alarm. Crowd rolls back

8.20-21am Same as above

8.30am Something's happening! Crowd rolls forward. Necks strained. Voices raised. Flags waved.

8.31am 'Crowd warm-up truck drives past. 'Jiayou Zhongguo! Jiayou Zhongguo!'

8.32am The Samsung truck passes. 'Jia Samsung! Jiayou Samsung's New X4000 Hands free phone set with sat nav, mini-bar and rocket booster applications!' 'Jia you Olympic Corporate sponsors!'

8.33am Unknown 3rd truck passes by. Something resembling cheerleaders wafting around on the roof.

8.36am. Torch-bearers alight near-by coach. Wave to the crowd, and take their positions. Noise more consistent, flag-waving more in tune.

8.37am Significant increase in flag-waving seen in easterly direction.

8.38am 'Lai le!' 'Lai le!' 'It's here!' 'It's here'. Necks enter giraffe mode. Arms stretched high, clutching camera.

8.39am Through a forest of red and white, I can see a man with a un-torch like object running very slowly up the street, surrounded by what looks like swimming pool attendents, in blue and white T-shirts. Noise cacophanous!! Flag-waving feverish!!

8.40am JIA YOU ZHONG GUO! JIA YOU ZHONG GUO! Man runs short distance. I take wonky photos. Switch to film mode. Film wonkier-still film. JIA YOU ZHONG GUO!! JIA YOU ZHONG GUO!! Catch glimpse of world's most famous fire safety hazard.

8.41am Torch and flame disappear westwards amongst the red, white and forest of arms.

8.43am Noise subsides, flags sag. Come and gone.

8.44am Slightly unsure facial expressions all round. No-one is really sure what to do next.

8.47am Begin to head for the university. Streets full of people. Have photo taken with strangers. Admire undercover-style camera handiwork.

8.51am. Friend phones. "Where are you? I'll be there in a minute".


PS Check out the pun in '8.36am'. Unintentional.

Eathrquake part 3

I didn't think there was going to be a part 3, but the Earth's crust is continuing to rumble underneath South West China. The day before yesterday, I was woken by an aftershock, but it wasn't too big, so I left it and went back to sleep. I was looking forward to a good sleep last night, but at about 11 in the evening my flatmate informs us that everyone's sleeping outside again, which meant a repeat of last Monday's evasive action.

Clutching a pillow, duvet, mat, bread, beer, passport and toilet paper, we head back to the same spot in the park. There was definitely more people than last time, 'people sea people mountain', as the Chinese saying goes. Anyone with a car seemed to be heading south, leaving the city. The pavements were full of people wandering round or sleeping, some even sleeping on the side of the road or using the kerb as a pillow. I admire the people who chose to sleep right outside the door of a multi-storey building. Some people seemed amused by everything, but I wasn't prepared to take any chances.

I gathered from some people crowded round a TV outside that a warning has been issued that yesterday and today, there should be a big aftershock, which is likely to affect Xi'an. Joining in the atmosphere, I went over to some friends to sit around on the pavement playing cards. There wasn't any panic, the chances of anything destructive here are small, but everyone was playing it safe, and making the most of it.

I did actually manage to get a couple of hours sleep, but when I woke up all the other Europeans who were in the park had left and gone home. Not too willing to go and sleep, I'm now in the internet bar, occupying the computer nearest the door - with only a three yard dash to the safety, I should be OK. I was pretty sure there was a shock just now actually, but it turned out to be someone zealously bashing away at the keyboard. At the moment, I'm alert to anything wobbly.

For the rest of today (currently 8am), I'm waiting for this shock to come and go so I can go back inside above the first floor. Sods law as soon as I go back to my flat, the tremor will come. Still, I'm better off than tens of thousands of people in Sichuan.

Earhquake part 2

The earthquake hit in the afternoon, but everything seemed quite normal soon after. Where I live, I only saw one slightly damaged building, but quite a lot of buildings have suffered cracks. It was quickly found out that it was 7.8, and that a lot of China had felt it. Initially people said no-one died, then later a number of 7000 was heard. Just now - 7am on the next day - I heard the number was 40,000.

My tutor is a Masters student, and living in the dormitory, he wasn't sure whether they would be allowed back in, so we went back to where I live. It was all pretty normal, until when we were going back home, I bump into a Spanish guy I know, who was planning on sleeping outside. As it turns out, the park was full of people prepared for a night's sleep. Seeing all that, I thought I'd better stay out as well.

It wasn't quite Woodstock, but it was an interesting atmosphere, about 25 Europeans and all the locals hanging out in the park at night. Because it wasn't too serious where I was, no-one was particularly freaked out. Still, it was only until after I heard the government announced at 12am that there would be no more aftershocks that I went back home. Besides, my building looks reasonably well-built.

4.30am, an aftershock woke me up. It's really a disturbing feeling. It seemed pretty clear that nothing was going to collapse, it was quite a small shake, but staying inside didn't sit comfortably, and seeing lots of people leaving the surrounding buildings, I went back to the park. But after about an hour, everyone was cold and bored so returned home. Now it's 7.50am on the second day, no appetite and I see on the news that it's a big one.

It's been an uneasy few hours. Coupled with the typhoon in Myanmar-Burma, the bad winter in China, and the very strange weather recently here, and the highly-visible, absolute destruction development is having on the environment, it adds to the unease.

Earthquake hits China

The number of study hours I've lost due to events beyond my control is increasingly huge. Normally it's 'la duzi' ("upset stomach"), but also such things as the bus breaking down, or the weather being too hot, etc. Today was another first - an earthquake.

So I'm on the fourth floor, havng a lesson with my tutor at the university at 2.40 in the afternoon. Just as I'm looking at and not really understanding some classical Chinese poetry, I notice something underneath me, as if the students in the classroom below are all stampeding out. I nudged my teacher, who immediately stopped talking, and stood up.

Now I guess there's three important steps when an eathquake strikes. One, as soon as you realise its an earthquake, leave the building or hide under the table; two, don't go back for possessions; three, if exiting the premises, do so in an orderly manner. From what I did, it looks like my earthquake-handling technique needs adjusting.

The first thing we do is open the door and go outside. Once outside, my tutor shouts 'Eathquake!' I hadn't really grasped what it was at that point, but I knew a building moving side-to-side was probably a bad thing.

Breaking the second rule, we went back in to get our stuff - I went for my textbooks and loo paper (essential items), no time to claim the MP3. And thirdly, instead of sheltering under the table, we ran down the stairs, along with loads of other people, in reasonably orderly fashion. Certainly when I saw some dust and cement falling from the ceiling as I ran, I was pretty worried - not too many things to hide under on the stairs.

When we get outside, the ground is still shaking, but then so was I, quite hard to distinguish at that point. I think it lasted about a minute or so, can't have been more than 90 seconds anyway. Everyone starts making phone calls, meaning everyone can't get through. The students were not allowed back into the dormitories until midnight, which shows you how much confidence the university authorities have in the newly constructed buildings.

Above all, it was a very disturbing feeling. If the building had collapsed, I would have been stuffed. And even outside, I was still pretty wobbly. When I saw the cement falling down, that was pretty frightening. And on the stairs, I was just thinking 'don't collapse now, don't collapse now, don't collapse now'. Fortunately, it did not, but somehow I just don't feel like studying right now.

The Tuesday Night Interview

Last year I made a short TV programme about a foreigner who marries a Chinese girl and all the problems he encounters with the culture differences - with hilarious consequences, of course. Well, I'd forgotten about it, but then the director gives me a call last week, saying it was going to be broadcast the next day, and I should go to the studio to participate in the 'after-broadcast' interview, live on Local TV. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to make a fool of myself not once but twice (all in the same evening), I of course agreed.







Things got off to a bad start when, just before doing the interview along with the other cast members, I had to dash to the bathroom. In my haste, I failed to notice the skirted silhouette on the door, so halfway through some female members of the production crew got a bit of a shock when they opened the door to the lockless-cubicle. 'Dignified' it was not.







During pre-filming preparations, they ran through the questions the presenters were likely to ask us. They asked me what I thought of Shaanxi women. My answer of 'I don't know, can't really tell the difference [between Shaanxi and non-Shaanxi women]' was considered an affront to the good women of Shaanxi. They said 'er, no, a better answer is 'fiery''. The programme is normally conducted in local language (the TV station is the provincial station, available to the 60 million residents of Shaanxi Province), but they made an exception for me. It's a nightly programme, and not hugely popular (fortunately).







The interview was 25 minutes long, and live, so I was a shade nervous. I introduced myself in local language, then after used Mandarin to field the questions directed at me. Questions mostly concerned my thoughts on international marriages (like that in the programme) and whether I could see myself living in Shaanxi. I mostly understood what they asked me, and it went pretty well, but it didn't quite have the easy back-and-forth of a Parkinson interview.







Later in the programme, the presenters read out some viewers comments. They asked me if I knew someone called Jiang Nan, because he said he knew me. I looked blankly and said 'No'. Embarrassed faces all round, until I suddenly remembered who it was, and corrected myself. Honestly, Chinese names are incredibly hard to remember, causing numerous awkward moments.







It's been a few days since this was broadcast, and I can't say I've had a huge number of autograph hunters and papparazzi hounding me - none, in fact, to be precise. Still, I'm sure that phonecall from China Central Television is just seconds away.

Xian so far

So what's different to last year? Not a huge amount, to be honest. I'm still here to learn Chinese, and experience a different way of doing things.





My first move was to do a Gordon Brown and break one of the golden rules - live with foreigners. My new flatmates are a German and an Italian, good friends from before, but as it happens, we rarely see each other, and it doesn't have a too negative impact on my Chinese. I was pretty reluctant to live with other Europeans, wanting to 'Sinofy' things as much as possible, but I find it easier said than done.





I'm living in what is probably the 'expat' area of Xi'an, down the road from last year, but still near the universities. I suppose it's considered suburbs, the complex I live in is a series of 6 storey flats, with guards at the gates and some grassy areas around, definitely an expression of the new and increasing wealth of the middle class. The flat's OK, although my room doesn't have air conditioning, so I'm looking forward to melting in my sleep again. It's May 2nd, and already time to bring out the shorts and flip-flops.





As for my studies, financial considerations have meant I've changed university. It's not as good as the one before, but much more affordable, and seeing as I rarely go to the lessons anyway, the best choice. Most of my learning is done by myself or with two tutors I had from last year. In fact, I'm only at a university because I have to be to get a visa.





Life is similar to before - a mixture of lessons, self-study, and random occurences. My Chinese has improved over the course of time, and I still enjoy learning it. Particularly when I first got back to Xian in March, I wasn't sure if it was the right choice, but I'm confident that it is - the main thing is, I enjoy it, and if I can learn it well enough to be considered useful later on, then that's a good bonus. At the moment, I think it's unlikely I'll stay here for ever, but I waited a long time for the chance to live in a foreign country and try learning a language, I'm not about to give it up lightly. Besides, I'll look a bit of wally if I don't learn it now.

Our Man in China returns

It's hot, it's noisy, it's unbelievably crowded and I still don't know what's going on - it can only mean one thing. Our Man in China has returned to Xian, China, and returned to the blogsphere. Huzzah!



So what's been going on since last the time of the last entry, I don't hear you ask. Well, I stayed in Xi'an until mid-January, nothing off note happening. I returned to England for 2 months to earn some money, put on some weight and watch some decent sport on TV. However, as of March 2008, Our Man in China has returned to Xian, and is continuing his habit of trying to do things he can't do, namely, learning Mandarin Chinese to an 'acceptable' standard, and making some sense of China. Will he do it? You'll see here (hopefully with the aid of more photos this time).