When all hope seems dashed… Olympic Torch Relay

Everyone knows the tradition of the Olympic torch passing through many
cities on the way to its final destination and beginning of the games.
Today my friends and I had the chance to go see it in.

Knowing that big crowds are anything but rare in urban China and how
excited everyone is about the Olympics, I was prepared to not get the
best seat in the house (I mean “by the street”) this morning when I
only left an hour before the torch was supposed to pass by. But after
walking outside my house and turning I saw the 2nd of 3 barricades
where officers of the law would not allow anyone to pass. Even at this
point we were 100+ meters from the road where the torch would be
carried.

We soon learned that the only people they allowed through were those
that arrived before 6 AM (although most arrived by 4 AM) and had an
official company registered team or volunteer status. Having arrived
well after 6 AM and with none of these credentials, even the most
flowery Chinese language and jokes I could come up with wouldn’t
budge those in charge.

After about an hour and failing to get through 3 different barricades,
we despairingly headed back for our apartment. Then, just as we were to
enter our apartment’s gate we noticed a stream of people running
through the 2nd barricade towards the torch route! We joined hundreds
of others in this mass movement of people as we hurried through the
barricade and dipped under a couple more pieces of caution tape before
reaching the street. We were delighted to have gotten so close to the
street and soon looked anxiously for the arriving motorcade.

As we were waiting for the torch, I was personally disappointed that
despite the hoards of people with flags, headbands, and Olympics
regalia galore, there wasn’t any kind of cheering. Bound to fix the
problem, I leaned over to my friend and asked if he thought I should
begin a cheer. As I weighed my options: the amount of staring and
humiliation I might bring upon myself if the cheering failed, I quickly
realized: “I already stand out like crazy in this mass of people and
I frankly don’t care what these people think about me.” I then
quickly proceeded to let out my loudest “Zhong Guo…JIa You”
(literally “China, Add Oil”). Within a matter of about 20 seconds I
had a huge group of Chinese around me echoing my cry of “Zhong Guo”
and a lot of entertained fans!

In a few minutes time, the torch came and went and that was it. A great
experience of cheering on the home country in preparation for the
Olympics in just 6 days!

For specifics on the torch relay se: http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/

China's Ramen

Everyone’s heard of Ramen noodles and knows that it’s a hit with college students that are needing a cheap filling meal or a midnight energy boost to finish a paper. But what you might not know about is Ramen’s big brother in China: Fang Bian Mian (in Chinese), translated “Convenient Noodles.”

They sure are convenient too. At any train station or at the end of any train car is a large container of hot water always ready to turn the next bowl of dried noodles into a hot, tasty, nothing but carb snack. On the many train rides I’ve had the chance to take in the last 10 months, it didn’t take me long to notice that whether its lunch, dinner, or even breakfast the food of choice is always Fang Bian Mian.

One of the most telling influences that Fang Bian Mian has on China is evident in its grocery stores. Filled from the top shelf to the ground on the better part of an aisle, the myriad of rainbow colors of all the different boxes is quite a sight.

The ready-to-eat variety usually packaged in paper bowls approximately the size of one very large, cereal bowl, is a noodle block usually enough for a whole meal. Coming in many different tastes (meat and vegetable flavors) and varieties (the purple one I had last time made me drink a liter of water), there’s always a new type to try. When opening Fang Bian Mian, the most surprising thing is probably the inclusion of a small fork, rather than chopsticks. Though initially a major shock to me, especially given the fact that forks are next to never available at restaurants, I realized that given the diameter of the bowl, the 3-pronged fork was the way to go. The image on the outside packaging is quite deceiving as there isn’t actually fresh meat or vegetable inside, but plenty of salty sauces, noodles, and artificial flavorings to keep anyone’s tastebuds on full alert.

Ocean Bound

So, myself and an Australian, Canadian, Chinese, and one other American friend got up last Friday morning and left at 7 on what was supposed to be a 550 km (about 400 mile) round trip ride to an ocean resort city and back. We were fully prepared with our "Zhongguo jia you" (literally "China: add oil", which is what fans cheer during sporting events and translates loosely as "Go China"). After getting through an hour of rush hour traffic and missing our first turn, we had our first repair of the trip (a couple screws had popped off the the front wheel). Luckily we had just the right thing to fix it, paper clips! It did the trick in minutes and though it was somewhat disheartening to already be fixing a busted bike, we continued on in full spirits. It was the first of only two repairs during the trip. The forecast had said it was supposed to be 100 degrees that day and we started to feel it by mid-morning. It wasn't the ride we had quite expected, with several big trucks flying by us every minute, sometimes dropping stones, coal, or other remains from the bay of the truck (truck drivers over here don't know anything but filling their bays to the brim, and then some).

By lunch the second day with our bottoms thoroughly sore, foreheads caked in dirt, and numerous body parts aching in pain; one of the gang planted a very tempting idea in our minds. "What if after getting to our destination tonight we don't turn around and get up the next morning at 7 to ride back, but take the train back the next day instead?" It didn't take very long for the rest of us to jump on board and soon we were filled with hope during the rest of that day's ride, as we knew it would be our last. The last part of our trip was the highlight, as we rode along a beautiful, yet still not completed, highway along the beach, where the temperature fell to the 50s and mist
surrounded us all. We felt like we were in some kind of video game as the cloudy, misty glaze fell over our us, creating a mystical atmosphere. We continually had to move back and forth to the sections of the road that were already completed and tried to ignore the inquisitive stares from the construction workers (not an unusual phenomenon for us by now). The second night concluded with being rejected by a half dozen hotels, who for some reason didn't want to give lodging to foreigners. Then, after a little bargaining, our 24-hour, 2-day bike trip covering 200 miles came to a close.

The last two days were much less uneventful, as we put our bikes to rest and enjoyed seeing a few sights and exploring the coast on our own. It was fun to be able to spend some time getting to know the guys and giving each other a hard time about all of our different English accents. Traveling alongside people in the countryside gave me a better glimpse of the sights, sounds, and smells of what is experienced there. It made me appreciate the life in the city, away from the beaming hot sun all day long, where farmers have little to no equipment to farm. It made me appreciate cars and the privilege we have to drive in comfortable, convenient conditions, without getting covered in dirt from head to toe.

Emperors Exert Their Power

It was a usual day playing our Friday afternoon game of basketball. The
weather was considerably warmer, so outside joining us around the
basketball court was a group of a half dozen 6 and 7-year old boys
playing with their cards, guns and dirt. Given the ample places to play
around the basketball court, we didn't consider starting a full-court
game of basketball to be a problem. Even after an hour and a half of
playing (being occasionally careful to avoid the little ones) there was
really no problem (though there were several close calls. Then, on one
breakaway, there was a little boy who stepped right in the way of a big
guy as he was backpedaling and fell down. Everybody was ok, but boy
that little kid was furious. He got up and started frantically yelling
and swinging his right arm round and around as fast as he possibly
could. I didn't hear until later that he was also giving some choice
words to these guys at least 3 times his age.

At that point, all of us playing basketball were in a tough position
because we felt bad for the kid, but their moms were right there
watching us play and didn't ever tell the kids to be careful. The kid
was also so mad at us he probably would have gone ballistic if we tried
to comfort him. So after several minutes of not much happening, and one
of the mom's suggesting we play half court. It was the most indirect
situation I've ever seen with no one saying anything or really doing
very much, just kind of shrugging their shoulders and not sure if they
should change their game and comply or just continue playing as before.

I finally stepped in and decided we better comply and play half-court.
As we took a few minutes to regroup and split up into smaller teams,
the situation went from weird to absurd. The kids understood which side
of the court was theirs and they began to play. But quickly they
lost interest in their own fun and took more delight in getting revenge
on the evil basketball players who were taking over their kingdom. They
ran over to the side of the court and began taking the clumps of grass
and dirt and throwing them onto our court. After it was too dirty to
play in we moved back to the other side of the court. To which the
kids, predictably, by now, responded by littering that side of the
court with grass clumps as well. We soon realized the hopelessness of
the situation and stopped playing altogether.

I was appalled at their behavior and the grins on their face, but even
more so by the lack of discipline from their moms who were watching
them from a very close distance the entire time. They didn't have any
sense of responsibility for their kids' behavior, and even seemed to
take joy in the actions of their children!

It was at this moment that I realized what the term "little emperor" and
this new "Me Generation" looked like. Complete disregard for what might be
the right way to act or treat others, and total indulgence into one's
childish nature of anger, whining, and revenge. These children are the ones
being served and they are not learning the word "no". Parents only have one
child, so their desire to give their "little emperor" anything he wants is
great and to punish him too severely is dangerous. My friends all agreed that
they were spoiled and needed to learn some lessons, but no one was taken
aback as much as I was by the situation. They know that's just what kids
are growing up like these days. But, "What are these kids being taught?" I ask.

That I'm not sure, but I am sure if they continue in their behavior, they will
have a tough "reign" ahead of them. 

There's No Place Like Home

Where are you from? In America this can sometimes be answered quickly and other times takes people 10 minutes to explain all the places they have lived and why they could call several of them "home".

Not so in China. The dozens of times I've asked people where they are from, they give me an answer without any hesitation. Though they might be going to a university in a different city than which they grew up, they will undoubtedly tell you that where their parents and extended family live is their home.

Why is that? Its not just because that's where one is most comfortable living, but it all comes down to your hukou. A hukou is like a residence permit that allows people to live, work and study in a specific city, but makes living in another city difficult. Furthermore hukous are required for most companie's housing stipends, insurance, medical coverage, and school attendance. To give you an idea of how important it is to obtain a hukou in the right area, a recent survey asked 3000 graduates whether they would rather have a salary of $14,000 USD/year (very high by Chinese standards) or have a Beijing hukou. Over 2/3rds of them answered they'd rather have the Beijing hukou.

Considerations for applying for a hukou in another province include:
1. College major and grades
2. Where one finds a job in a given city
3. Age (one province made it mandatory the person be under 45 in order to apply)
4. Amount of taxes a certain business has paid in the last 3 years

Like any system of this nature, there are of course a number of other details that I have not come to fully grasp. For example, there are ways to obtain temporary residence permits (necessary for a person or business to come somewhere in the first place and reside for 3 years).

Furthermore, anyone with an understanding of the kind of mass migration that is taking place in China right now is right in assuming all of the people moving from the rural areas to the cities don't necessarily have registered hukous. Just like immigration in the US from other countries, there are certain economic considerations that make the immigration of people who are willing to work for low wages desirable for a city. Jobs of street cleaner, construction worker, and trash man are some of the most common. Its no surprise to me as I look down any street and see people doing these jobs that the number of non-hukou residents in China is in the range of 120 million and continuing to rise.

Of course like anything in life, there are very good reasons why the systems in place are there. The reason I am often given is that if the migration of people in China isn't controlled, the problem will only get worse. This problem of overpopulation didn't truly make sense to me until living here and trying to go anywhere at 5:00 in the evening. Now I understand the magnitude of the problem.

And what does the system result in? Among other things, one positive result is in people who stay more closely connected to and a greater appreciation of the saying, "There's no place like home." A concept that, due to the freedom and economic opportunities in other places, is becoming more and more foreign to the Western mind.

Intellectual Property and Pirating

Despite an article I recently read in a scholarly economic magazine
about there being more of a crackdown on protecting business'
intellectual property, I see a very high degree of apathy towards the
subject, especially here in China.

As example, I bought a fairly expensive program for my Palm Treo that
has A Chinese Dictionary and character recognizer on it. After showing
the program to a few of my Chinese friends, the obvious question was
(like always), "How much did it cost?" Of course, I told them home
much it was and they promptly were taken aback by its cost and told me:

"Chinese don't have enough money to buy that program." Then, my
more tech-savvy friend responded: "I could find that same thing
online for free!" To which, he went online and sure enough, 5 minutes
later showed me a program with similar features downloaded all for
free! He then said that everything on his phone was also free programs!

Then just a few days later, I was talking with another friend who had a
friend in an African country that had a great idea for export! He could
take an electronic device from a brand-name company, not put the
trademark on it, and sell it in this country for much cheaper. Of
course the big advantage for him was that because it would be imported
as a "no name" brand, it would avoid all of the larger import
duties on name-brand products!

Whether its iPods, Nike Swooshes, or DVDs, SO many things in this
country are pirated. Its even hard to find shops in this country that
sell anything BUT pirated DVDs. That has led me to not buy anything
pirated, therefore any DVDs at all. But even not buying any DVDs
doesn't prevent me from watching the dozens of pirated DVDs my
roommates own.

Sure, I understand the vast majority of people in this country don't
have the money to pay for the kind of software program I just bought
(often the justification I hear). But does that justify every
occurrence of successfully pirated product? Is that just the way this
country works and I shouldn't feel guilty about it because everyone
does it?

Or in the macro sense is the incessant duplication of anything good
actually bad for the economy since it discourages that entrepreneurial
spirit one has to come up with something new? Why don't you just wait
for the "first movers" to make thousands of mistakes in order to
come up with a few dozen things that work. Then, just copy those
products that have proved to be successful and avoid all that trouble
of trying to see if a new product will be successful or not? I don't
know if there is a black and white answer, because even in the US
you've got illegal burning of CDs going on in everyone's CD burner.

Its just another one of those considerations to go into when we
actually look at what we are consuming, its legally, and what effects
it has on the economy. There is one thing that is for sure, most
everyone who is reading this article does have enough means to buy the
real thing and should think a few moments before we just always buy
whats best on our pocket books in the short-term. And I'll join you
in asking those questions a little more honestly of myself too.

Michael who?

Though Michael Jordan still regularly appears on Gatorade bottles (a recent picture I took), posters, and top of the line basketball shoes, the future of American dominance of the Chinese basketball market is in jeopardy. Already with recent stars of Yao Ming on the Houston Rockets and rookie Yi Jian Lian on the Milwaukee Bucks, Chinese basketball's popularity and talent is rapidly increasing.

Given not all Chinese have the natural build for basketball. Case in point, I have always been a shooting guard growing up. But now that I have grown a little to 6'1' and live in China, I am always the big center that gets many of the rebounds (needless to say my inside game is a little rough given I've never played in the post before). But though the average Chinese is definitely shorter than the average
American, I have played against, and seen many more, people who are definitely taller than me.

I've heard on order of 400 million basketball enthusiasts here (and I'd believe it given the amount of streetball I see everywhere!), So with a number of followers like that, well more than the American population, why isn't China turning out more Yao MIngs? My answer is threefold:

-Its Youth: I was struck when playing basketball with a college student recently and he told me he has been playing for 3 years, to which I had to be honest and say, I'd been playing for 18!

-Its Organization: I almost never see organized teams or coaches to have athletes play together. It always pickup streetball, which hurts their understanding of "team ball"

-Its Model: NBA. That's all people here watch! Their fundamentals suffer for it! Television now shows 4 games a week and recently, much to my delight, even been adding an NCAA game in the mix!

The latest in the growth of the Chinese basketball market, the takeover of Chinese Basketball Association by NBA just two months ago. Sure to be the first step before the NBA as was the case for Yao Ming and Yi Jin Lian, the CBA has almost no following among Chinese and could use a big boost! (Article: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/2008-01-14-698984466_x.htm)

So, even Yao Ming's injury last week, possibly keeping him out of the Olympics, may not be such a catastrophe after all. Maybe its just the opportunity for many future Yaos to step up and give Chinese basketball a name for themselves! There's one thing Americans still have: I still haven't seen any Chinese that can match Shaq's frame inside! Keep bringin the McD's!