The Perils of Biking In Beijing

I was able to borrow the bike of a friend of a friend. The commute from my door at Quang Ye to the center at Bei Da (Peking U) takes 45 minutes. Riding a bike cuts down the commuting time by 15 minutes. However, the amount of stress and near-death (only a slight exaggeration) experiences may not make it worth the time.

Let me describe the scene. I am riding a black bike, with a broken basket, the seat of the bike lifts up when you pull on it, and the bike is just a tad too small. I try to weave in and out of traffic, following the other bikers’ lead when it is time to cross an intersection. The streets are PACKED! Luckily, or so I thought, there are bike lanes. .Unfortunately, bikers, cabs, and cars also like to use the “bike lane”. To top it off, there are usually a fair number of bikes and pedestrians that are going in the opposite direction. Oh yea, and no one follows traffic light and rules strictly.

Halfway through the ride, I begin to ignore the sounds behind me of cars honking and people yelling, and just focus on the path ahead. This seems to work and somehow, I make it to school safely, cars, bikes, and people swerve around me.

I told my host that I started riding my bike to school. She said “Before long, you’ll be Chinese”. Imagine that.

Cafeteria Ladies

I’ve been staying at the China University of Mining and Technology’s (Quang Ye) Beijing Exchange Center, essentially a hotel. On east side of the building on the first floor, there is a cafeteria. I have been spoiled by the cafeteria’s at Peking University where the food is either self-serve or the dishes are behind glass cases making for easy selection.

Quang Ye's cafeteria has a bit more of the "Communist China" feel. There is a separate room with openings for the servers, the item names are displayed on strips of paper above the openings, and a variety of food are in numerous containers lined up on a table. Students, staff, and teachers all seem to have debit cards which they use to purchase food.

Rather than letting me pay cash to the servers, I must first order the food (a series of pointing, damn I really need to learn my food words). The meats, veggies, and rice are all behind the wall. An assortment of Chinese dumplings and breads are served from metal and glass stands. After making my selection, the servers tell me what the total is. Then, leaving my food with the servers, I walk over to the cashier and tell her how much the food I am going to buy is. I am rung up and receive a receipt which I then hand over to the server to get my food.

On a side note, these type of inefficient payment services are not specific to cafeterias and is quite common in department stores as well. My best guess as to why this still happens is because (1) it creates more jobs and (2) is a low-tech way of insuring people aren't stealing. All in all, I was able to order some stir-fry greenbeans, ma po tofu, and bread stuffed with vegetables all for about 60 cents. The food was nothing special, but the price and proximity to my room makes the cafeteria a good choice when I want something fast.

Happy 4th of July

some funny signs to amuse yourself with (sorry for the repeats)




funny signs

filling in the details

For those that do not know what I’m doing in Beijing. I am currently doing research for my doctoral dissertation, essentially studying the impact of implementing pharmaceutical product patents on the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry, transfer of technology, and inventive activity in China. I am here on a government fellowship with a group of American graduate students from different universities and programs. I am the only economist among botanists, anthropologists, computer scientists, etc. Provided that my research goes well this summer, I will be able to return to the states in September and begin writing my thesis. So, readers, cross your fingers for me.

Mistaken Identity

Today was a blast. One of my college friends has come to visit me in Beijing for a few days. We went to Wangfujing and explored a ginormous shopping center, bought some things from the fancy grocery store to make mixed drinks, and snacks for the room.

We decided to go to Alameda, an upscale Brazilian eatery and ranked as the “crème de la crème” in Beijing. We shared two prix fixe meals, sampling cous cous, scallops, filet mignon, and sharing a bottle of Malbec wine. The meal was delicious and quite reasonably priced once you do the conversion to dollars. Actually, this aspect of Beijing, the ability to afford fine dining, swanky bars, and enjoy art, music, and culture at a fraction of the price in the U.S., which makes it so appealing to so many expats.

After dinner, my friend and I met up with three other people from the program at Latinos, a salsa club. The band was great and we danced to the wee hours. We took separate cabs back to our hotel since all cab drivers refuse to seat more than four at night rather than risk being fined by the police. Once back at the hotel, I get a call from one of the guys in our group, he had something of my friends and wanted to give it back before he went to sleep. So I asked him to come down and open the door (there’s a curfew at the hotel and doors are locked after midnight). Unfortunately, he couldn’t open it himself and so the doorman had to be woken up to open the door. The doorman unlocked the door, took in our club outfits and make up, then asked my (guy) friend if he had “called us”. [Translation: Were we prostitutes?!]

Well, although that’s not what one would like to hear, at least it’s a funny ending for the night!

Internet Access

Within the first week at my host institution, I was able to get an account so that I could use the internet at work. Luckily, it didn’t seem that difficult to set everything up and use the internet. This was a relief as other group members have had varying levels of difficulty getting access at all or to various sites. All of this of course, seems to be due to government efforts to monitor and restrict internet usage and access in universities.

For the most part, the first few days at work, I had few problems besides a slow connection and the inability to use MSN Messenger or AOL Instant Messenger. However, starting today, I could no longer access UCLA’s webmail or website.

Later it was explained to me that I had been assigned a domestic internet account (i.e. I can only access domestic websites) rather than an international internet account. Outwardly, I accepted this argument however inwardly I didn’t see how that could be since just one day previously I had had no problems looking at international sites. . .

It is a disconcerting feeling that one (at least as a foreigner) gets while living in China, of being watched. Wherever you stay, you have to register with the hotel, dorm, etc so the government knows where you are (so make sure you always have your passport when you are traveling around China!). In my experiences living in foreign dormitories and now an extended stay at a hotel, I know the fuwuyuan (service/cleaning women) know my face if not my name. It makes one learn to true appreciate the freedom one has in the States.

Dui Hua/ Dialogue

Tonight was one of my most interesting, firsthand experiences dealing with political situations in China. As an exchange student at CCER, I was allowed to be an audience member for a CCTV talk show (supposedly one of the most popular) called “Dui Hua”. Six economists, three American and three Chinese, were invited to discuss issues pertaining to the Chinese economy and the audience was comprised of economics students and professors from schools in Beijing. The show became quite entertaining, if only for the tense moments between Martin Feldstein and the talk show host.

Essentially, the host was adamant about getting across three points:

There is “China fever” in the United States- this was supported by recent news magazine articles focusing on the growth of China’s economic and political strength. There is a dispute regarding trade between China and the U.S.- in other words, Americans have a problem with the vast amount of cheap goods being imported from China. This has lead to trade restrictions such as those on textiles.

The acquisition of American companies by Chinese firms threatens the U.S.’s global dominance of the economy.

The responses by the American economists:

There is no China craze. While China is becoming more interesting (particularly to individuals that actually follow world politics or economics), it is certainly not a main focus to most Americans. People are more concerned about Iraq and oil prices This is a non-issue. The U.S. imports a substantial amount of goods from China and in return, however, China imports very little from the world economy. China is the one that needs to open its doors to trade and allow its consumers to benefit from greater variety of products. The issue that should be raised is that market forces do not determine the exchange rate for the RMB. There is no way that the acquisition of a dishwasher appliance company will threaten world dominance (e.g. Maytag acquisition by Haier).

While I feel there was some liberty taken with interpretations of the issues by both parties and that the truth lies somewhere in-between, I have a tendency to side with the views of the American economists. I agree with the argument that at the dinner table, the emergence of China is not the first topic of discussion. I agree that free trade is generally recognized as a good thing and that there will be winners (Americans that can buy cheaper goods) and losers (textile producers in Mexico). I agree that the U.S.’s business sector is dynamic and open to international business. However, I will say that I do not know what the commonly held view is. I think that the general American public is easily influenced by the media and likes sensational news (hence the higher ratings for Fox News compared to CNN). . but I’m not going to get into a political tirade here. . .

Several things struck me as noteworthy during this discussion. (1) The Chinese host + economists and the American economists seemed to be talking at each other than really getting at the issues. (2) That certain issues were avoided because of their politically sensitive nature. (3) That it took more than three hours of filming for a half hour/hour long show. This makes me question just how much of the American economists responses will be edited and how. . . I guess I’ll have to tune in to find out.

pics from my host institution

CCER

down embassy road

So I am sitting in a Starbucks in the business district are of Beijing, Jianguomen, otherwise known as “Embassy Road”. In these parts of town, Beijing feels like any other developed, international city. Plenty of foreigners, people working on their laptops, the AC blasting with pop music softly playing in the background, and Starbucks coffee being consistently bad (sorry, I just am not a fan of the stuff and only bought it because I thought there would be wireless internet here).

Outside the Starbucks are three men that are discreetly hawking pirated DVD’s. Evidently, the government has not been completely successful with ending counterfeiting resulting although there does seem to be a greater effort to control it. While a see a fair number of “D&G” and “Dior” shirts, pumas which used to be sold at the Market near Sanlitun can no longer be found. I also hear there has been a bigger crackdown on the sale of fake luxury goods such as “Louis Vutton”, “Chanel”, “Gucci”.

Six years ago, I used to come to this part of town for the Silk Market, the friendship store which is one of the few places that sold “equal” and diet soda, and it was close to one of the few ATM machines that would take my U.S. Debit card. It was nice to be back in a familiar place and see the Friendship Store and Starbucks in their old location.

Now, there are Starbucks all over the place (along with a scattering of Subway, 7-11, Outback Steakhouse, Schlotzkys, and Papa Johns). The 1.20 RMB taxis are gone and in there place are newly painted VW taxis that are all 1.60 RMB. But with such fast paced development, old Beijing is harder to find. The little hutongs (alleyways) and old siheyuan (courtyard houses) are being torn down to make room for new apartment complexes and shopping centers. Although it remains a relatively safe city, the inflow of migrants and rising unemployment has led to higher crime rates.

Surely though, these problems will be dealt with in due course. . .and somehow, Beijing will continue it’s economic development and modernization while retaining its own flavor.

comfy shoes

So one thing you do a lot in Beijing is WALK!

In Los Angeles, my physically activity is comprised of working out at the gym for about an hour, six days a week. While I’ve tried to be better about using the stairs instead of the elevator, I still walk very little. Usually I walk from my apartment to my car, from my car to my office, sit on my butt all day, and at the end of the day, walk back to my car, drive home, and walk up one flight of stairs to my apartment...

In China, I probably walk between 2-5 miles a day depending on what I’m doing. It used to surprise me how Chinese people could seriously chow down on food and still stay so thin. I realize now that they walk and bike a lot (and well over 50% of the population is still doing a lot of manual labor).

I actually love this aspect of China and wish it were possible to get around L.A. just using public transport and walking. The downside is that for the first time in a long long time, I have blisters! Today I wore heels because I was interviewing someone at a university and wanted to dress nicely. But even my most comfortable summer shoes, plastic/rubber flipflops from j.crew cut into my feet.

I think I’m going to have to break down and buy Chinese shoes. I’ve heard they are super comfortable for long distance walking.

end of orientation

Last night I organized a movie night at the hotel. We had dumplings, chicken and lamb skewers, assorted snacks, watermelon, and cheap Chinese beer and wine. We watched “Hong Kong Hustle” and “Meet the Fockers”. Earlier in the day, I had bought some DVD’s from a little store near Wu Dao Kou. It was a great way to end the week, just sitting back and relaxing with a good movie and company.

Although orientation week has been fun, I am looking forward to settling down into a routine and getting some work done. I am curious to see how group dynamics will change over the next few days as a quarter of the group are leaving Beijing to conduct research in Shanghai, Kunming, Hefei, etc.

In a relatively short period of time I have gotten to be good friends with a number of them and am sad to see them go. However, I am fortunate to have some friends in town and to have a number of visitors this summer. The heat and humidity have been nearly unbearable in Beijing. The few hints of rain never became heavier than a sprinkle and only increased the humidity.

During the movie, it start pouring and it sounds wonderful to me. I’ve always loved thunderstorms and heavy showers in the summer, making everthing feel clean, fresh, and cool.

day 4 orientation: funny signs at great wall 3

when in china, even at the great wall, you are only a stone's throw away from kfc

day 4 orientation: funny signs at great wall 2

no spitting

day 4 orientation: funny signs at the great wall 1

bateby

un-american girl

This afternoon we had our official opening ceremony at the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). While we anticipated an informal gathering of MOST representatives, NSFC, and us, we were sorely mistaken.

There were about 20 reporters, officials from MOST, NSFC, CSTEC, and the American Chamber of Commerce. There was a group photo prior to the start of the ceremony followed by opening remarks and other speeches by various officials. The ceremony was video-recorded and broadcast on CCTV 4.

Prior to beginning, some reporters from CCTV asked to interview two of the program participants. The reporters were careful to select students that were “obviously” American, i.e. Caucasian looking. It’s funny how Americans with a European or African descent are treated so differently from those with Asian backgrounds.

There are both benefits and losses to “looking Chinese” while staying in Beijing. Although I will never be singled out to hold someone’s child for a photo or to be in a commercial or interview, I am rarely hassled by vendors and beggars. Unfortunately my Chinese is not good enough for me to pass as a native. Almost without fail, I have the following conversation with a native in which he/she discovers that I am not Chinese:

Chinese Person: What is your nationality?

Me: I am Vietnamese American.

Chinese Person: Oh! Vietnamese. I thought you were Chinese. Vietnamese, huh?

Me: Yep.

Chinese Person: Where did you learn to speak Chinese? It is good. (Disclaimer: Chinese people are pretty polite and if you are not Chinese and can say “Ni hao” or hello, they will compliment your Chinese.)

Me: I studied Chinese in college and studied at Beijing Normal University for six months.

Chinese Person: Oh, okay, that explains it!

wangfujing food market pics

wangfujing food market

Tsinghua, the Silk Market, and Wangfujing

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day leaving me worn out by 9pm.

The morning involved meetings with China’s National Natural Science Foundation (where unnatural is the “social sciences”, hmmf) and a representation from Tsinghua (sounds like Ching Hwa) University which has been a traditionally engineering based university.

Our meetings have all followed the same pattern, a nice power point presentation explaining the founding, mission, organizational structure of the agency followed by a Q&A session. The latter meeting was particularly interesting as the presenter discussed the difficulty that their professors have with understanding intellectual property rights in China. This is interesting because Tsinghua is one of the oldest universities in Beijing and their university is one of the largest producers of patent applications in China. I hope to discuss IPR in China more with the presenter sometime next week.

After the talk, we toured Tsinghua’s campus which is quite beautiful and large, with 15 dining facilities and a pond surrounded by weeping willows.

Next, a group of 12 of us decided to go to the Silk Market near Embassy Row (Jiangguomen Dajie). I was floored to discover that what had once been an alley of stalls with vendors hawking their wares had been all moved into a large shopping complex. Now Chinese and tourists alike could do their haggling over skirts, Chinese arts and crafts, and “Prada” wallets in the comfort of AC.

I was excited that my haggling skills have much improved and I was able to score to skirts, a Mao shoulder bag, and a dressy top for USD$32! We had hall worked up an appetite so 8 of us grabbed a cab over to Wangfujing’s night food market. Wangfujing has developed a lot in the past five years and feels more like Hong Kong or Shanghai than Beijing. There were upscale boutiques, an Outback steakhouse and TCBY, and tons of locals and tourists walking around. The night market was not much changed, perhaps slightly more organized. It was a highlight of the day- stalls and stalls of interesting foods from exotic seafood and animal parts on sticks and dou hua (steamed tofu) to pineapple rice and dumplings. I tried an crispy crepe-esque dish filled with stirfried egg and greens, a “Chinese hamburger”, and eel on a stick. It was delicious although not super cheap by Chinese standards- 20 RMB or USD$2.5. One of my friends tried a pupa and he said it was quite tasty. Maybe next time. . . .or not.

day 2 of orientation

I am already starting to settle in. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and bought some necessities (fruit knife, tea, water bottle, hangers, etc) and this morning I joined a local gym. This morning I went to the gym and picked up some fresh fruit on the way back (4 nectarines, 2 plums, and 2 mangoes for $2!).

Then the group went to the Chinese Academy of Science, a government agency that is a partner with NSF in arranging this program. We got the standard power point presentation and were told about the cultural differences between the US and Chinese- for instance the way that we address envelopes- and how that will help US and Chinese scientists learn from one another. They treated us to a banquet meal for lunch that was pretty tasty - interestingly we were served red wine and salmon sashimi.

After an afternoon at the Chinese Museum of Fine Art and a rest in my room, I joined the entire group for a dinner with traditional Chinese performances. We went to “Da Jiao Men”, a newish building styled as if it were old with beautiful décor. I sat down to a sumptuous meal with between 15 and 20 different dishes.

About halfway through our meal the performances started. The beginning was kind of lame, some cheesy (definitely catering to tourists) martial arts, a mask dance, and a bit of Peking opera. The highlight of the show was definitely the acrobatics although I find this to be visually disturbing as it just doesn’t seem right that one can contort their bodies that way. We were all discussing how the girl’s anatomy must be pretty distorted. There was some heavy drinking that continued for some in front of our hotel. In any case, the party moved to the basketball court on campus – with some surprisingly good shots for the state of drunkedness – until two security guards called an end to the ruckus..




forget bending it like beckham, can you bend it like this???!!!

ho hai adventures

Last night a group of us from the program (20 in all) hopped into 5 cabs to grab dinner and hang out in Ho Hai. It is an up an coming hot spot in Beijing, a lake with a number of restaurants and bars- mostly catering to the noveau riche Chinese and expats- on the perimeter. Nonetheless, there are a ton of Chinese people milling about, fishing, riding bicycles, etc.





Somehow three of us got separated from the group and winded up at a restaurant by ourselves (I don’t think we ever found the super hot spot). We ordered baked bass on a sizzling plate, stirfry veggies with pork, and some dianxin (dim sum dishes). It was pretty tasty and albeit expensive. The three of us ended up going back to the dorms after dinner. We got into a taxi and I told the driver where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, she ended up dropping us off at the wrong university and we didn’t realize it until after we got out of the taxi.

I hate being taken for a ride and was pretty peeved. We saw a map and tried to figure out how far we were from our dorms. . too far to walk. .a nice elderly couple took pity on us and walked us across the street to get another taxi and told him where to take us. I was embarrassed that my Chinese was not good enough and I didn’t know the area well enough to explain to the driver where we wanted to go. We finally made I back to our dorms and I’m resolved to study my map and pay better attention to directions and improve my Chinese skills. The good thing about traveling with a group of people with mixed language skills is that I’ve had to force myself to speak to get around and take care of things. I think I will definitely be more fluent by the time I leave Beijing.

Long Travel Day

Saturday morning, around 9am, my (ex) fiancée and roommate dropped me off at the airport. I flew from LAX to SFO on a 11:40 a.m. flight and was to get on a flight from SFO to Beijing at 1:55. However, the second leg was delayed- very delayed- turns out the technicians found something wrong with the aircraft during servicing and they had to wait for another aircraft to come in that could accommodate the number of passengers and handle the flight. I wasn’t too annoyed as I would rather wait four hours to get on a safe plane then leave on time and plummet to my death.

The second flight was 12 hours long with a horrible entertainment selection – Coach Carter, Bridget Jones Diary 2, and a few random t.v. shows. They were supposed to show Sideways but there was something wrong with the video, hence BJD2, which is not a terrible movie in and of itself, but I think I’ve seen it 3-4 times on previous airline flights. I learned not to choose a window seat on a long international flight as getting up to go to the bathroom is a pain. . but maybe it’s always a pain because if you sit on the aisle you still have to get up for other people to get out to use the bathroom or walk around. Anyways, it was not so horrible as I was sitting next to a Cantonese speaking family, the grandma and mom were sitting in my row and the father and kids in the row behind me. The little kid kept on kicking the back of my chair, so I looked back a couple of times and finally the grandma took pity and put the boy in his place. So most of the flight was kick free.

We arrived in Beijing around 8 or 9pm, Sunday June 19th. Luckily, NSF had arranged for someone to pick us up and take us to the university housing we are staying in. We had to wait an hour or so for the other students on late flights to get in. We rolled up at the China University of Mining and Technology an hour later. By the way, the pollution is as bad if not worse than I remembered with haze so thick you can cut it like a knife and making L.A.’s June gloom seem like a light mist. Being the OCD person that I am, of course I had to stay up later to unpack all of my things. Here’s a photo of my room.





Not bad, two beds, AC (that I haven’t figured out how to work), mini fridge, tellie with a lot of channels, big closets, and my own bathroom with a western toilet. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring photos to decorate my room with so I will have to go to the store to buy some things to make the room more homey. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. unable to sleep anymore, maybe a little jetlagged but not terribly. I think my internal clock will be readjusted pretty quickly. I think it’s tougher on the way back then the way here. Orientation which goes all week, doesn’t start for another hour and a half, so I may go walk around outside a bit to kill time. Hopefully I will be able to get internet set up soon so I can post regularly.