Review: Lost on Planet China

I found this book on MP3 audio at the Lawrence Library. His introductory admission that he is, in no sense, an authority on China nor on any things Chinese, drug me into this book.

While an admitted non-authority, he did offer an honest and perceptive first hand account of his travels in China. Also, his research and journalists eye for detail and social criticism - - combined with a trenchant sense of humor (3/4 reviewers online have called it rollicking) reminded me of my time in the middle kingdom.

His irreverent social criticism - and his multi-national perspective (he's some sort of Dutch / Czech/ Canadian living mostly in California) should appeal to the traditionally aged students at our school, though he drops the f-bomb a couple times in the first chapter, and the mofo-bomb a couple times in a clever and funny recollection of his meth-addled neighbors in Sacramento. He seems to be a devoted family man - who none-the-less speaks candidly of the unclear roles of, for instance, the student/ "take out girl" or the factory girl "Cinderella." These moral ambiguities are part of the mystery of the east, he reasons. In his humor, I detect an elusive and indelicate truth.

I'm halfway through the book, but the following comments brought back memories, and reminded me of some of the visceral first impressions I'd forgotten, such as:

Pollution

• "700,000 people per year die just from breathing the air" - the air pollution in China is unimaginably bad. 1/3 of the pollution in California, he asserts, comes originally from China. - and has survived the 4000 miles of ocean.
• 1/3 (or 2/3rds) of all the water in China is unfit for even industrial use. It's too polluted for even use to make leaded paint.
  
• Air quality in Beijing is 3 times worse than what the level at which we tell children and the elderly to stay indoors because of unacceptable danger. If that link is correct - he may have understated .
  

Culture

• "I was finally having an authentic Chinese experience: It was awful." Here he spoke of a train ride. The second-hand smoke recollections rang a bell.
  
• Chinese culture has a unique approach to queuing up - or waiting in line. It's a contact sport more akin to football than anything in the west. It has to be experienced to be understood.
  
• The interactions with food (including experiences eating sheep brains, frog, and live squid).
• The way the Chinese call out Lao Wai when they see a foreigner - his Chinese language skills aren't stellar, but he figures out it means something negative. In Taiwan the meaning is much like the n-word here, or the c-word. It may mean something less negative in China - but considering how the attitudes toward human rights differ - I'm not sure we can ever make easy comparisons. That said, I cringe every time he uses the term. It might be his causal honesty, or that refreshing wise but clueless - eyes wide open stance of his that I initially found endearing.
  

The MP3 lasts 11 hours, and I regret not being able to bookmark pages - but I'm diggin' it.

• Book review - by someone else.

• Find the book on Amazon

On education

Protests in China?

Several reports have come out of China alluding to unrest similar to what we've seen in Egypt, Libya and Wisconsin. Boingboing.com blog on the 26th (Saturday) noticed the censorship and detention of bloggers who used the word "jasmine revolution" online. (update: first reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists). Wikipedia has coverage here, but the item is flagged - of course it is disputed. [Update: NY Times reports on the governmental prevention of reporting on the Protests. ]

Apparently significant numbers of people are taking to the streets, but with the government controlling so much communication it's hard to say what is really happening. At least one of my friends in China has told me this blog isn't accessible.

Human Rights in China has translated a manifesto published by the protesters and the English translation can be found here. Excerpts from the document:

Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: So much public housing has been sold to individuals, so many state-owned enterprises and so much land have been sold, and nearly all state-owned property has been sold off. But where has all the money from these sales gone? It goes without saying that state-owned property belongs to the entire people. But what did the people get? Led by an authoritarian regime, the opaque process of privatization has made a small number of people rich, but what did the vast number of ordinary people get?

Every good and honest Chinese person, please think: When Japan, Korea, and Taiwan were in the process of industrializing, they were able to make the overwhelming majority of their people prosperous. Why is it that during China’s industrialization the ordinary people are becoming poorer? Why is it that in just the last few decades China has gone from being a country with the smallest gap between the rich and the poor to one with the largest? It is because the unfair system has made a small number of people incredibly wealthy, and the vast majority of people remain poor.

If anyone has information please share it. The rallies are supposed to continue - the following is a screen grab from the blog

(photo courtesy wikimedia commons - https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/File:Voa_beijing_230_20feb11.jpg)

Chinese Tiger Mothers

There's been a lot in the news recently about the "Tiger Mother, " Amy Chua, who has written an apology for an Asian Stereotype.

In short, she defends remorseless and aggressive parenting defined by denial of silly things like art (except violin or piano) and social activities, and pressure on preformance in school (primarily in math and science).

I'm familiar with the stereotype she represents with such gusto, but what she's been doing for western audiences has been done much better and more humorously in High Expectations Asian Father blog, where I got the screen grab on Jan 29th, 2011.

Hasn't anyone read, or at least seen, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan? The model has some serious backlash. Relationships between parent and child may benefit from more guidance, discipline and/ or involvement than many (most?) American parents invest - but the bond can be strained and even broken by too much negative reinforcement and withholding of affection.

The Chinese Language newspaper we picked up at Ho's (an Taiwanese market on 95th and I-35) followed a discussion among an ethnic Chinese community - and in the Chinese language (unsimplified). The consensus among those with closer ties to traditional Chinese culture than Hua is not in support of her. They compare her to a traditional story - a children's fairy tale about a tiger who disguiesed herself as a woman to get at some kids by marrying a widower. The story is as gruesome as the original Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and a little Red Riding-hood. Key in the telling is the sounds of the tiger crunching the bones of the children. The tiger is always the tiger's 1st priority.

Interestingly this Tuesday marks the end of the year of the tiger. I had been teaching for a couple years in Taiwan the last time we had a year of the tiger. I taught adults in evening classes and noticed that of nearly 500 students per semester I had no pregnant women in class in the year of the tiger. Once the year of the Rabbit got well under way there were about a dozen pregnant women scattered throughout my classes. Tigers are a strong sign, but they aren't much desired. Also, Tigers are not welcome at weddings.



References

• The Wall Street Journal on "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" - written by the author, Amy Chua.
  
• Slate on why we let the father's role slide from our conversation in "Tiger Mom. Terrible role model"
• And the Huffington Post response by a sociologist and professional parent educator with a PhD in "Why Amy Chua is Wrong About Parenting"
  

WTF: What the fruit?

I don't shy from exotic food - in fact it is one reason I love traveling. A blog post on BoingBoing.net reminded me that one of the fruits I grew accustomed to in my 5 + years living in S.E. Asia freaks people out. Maybe 1/2 the people in Taiwan like Durian though many have never tasted it. If you try it, you'll love it or hate it.

It assaults the senses. The stench is legendary. It looks like a medieval weapon until you crack it open, and then it looks like some alien in its larva stage. People generally describe the texture as creamy and rich - but it's... the experience of eating Durian defies polite analogy. BoingBoing shares

19th century British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace described the taste of durian as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, sherry wine and other incongruous dishes."

One of the comments describes the experience in more visceral terms, in an expression common in S.E. Asia, "It's like sitting on the toilet whilst eating your favorite ice cream." You've got to read the comments. They are inventive and have the ring of truth. Even smelling it alone is unforgettable.

Which is funny. Long before I heard that expression I shared with my Taiwanese friends the theory that no-one falls in love with Durian the first time they eat it, but the smell comes through so clearly when it passes through you - and since, to quote Fat Bstrd from Austin Powers, "everyone likes their own brand" after you've eaten and passed it, when you smell Durian it will remind you of your own earthy odors - in the most positive way possible, and Durian appeal to you in a way it couldn't the first time you tried it.

Which explains why many people never try it. It's a questionable taste to develop since the fruit has more calories than ice cream and may be more unhealthy. Most hotels ban the fruit. I have a buddy who ignored the message in Singapore and left a Durian in his room while he went back out shopping. In Asia they do a very sensible thing and cut power to your room when you're out (if the room key isn't proximal to the room no power). Equatorial climate being as hot as Kansas in August, and heat having a liberating effect on the fragrance .... the whole hotel reeked when he got back - which made him amazingly unpopular.

Linguistic integrity? Royal order of linguistic prejudice?

People often assume to know my position on English Only laws and proposals - but my take is nuanced and complicated. Linguistic integrity is an interesting idea - but it hasn't been tried yet.

WHY do Asian menus refer to squid by an Italian word? The picture comes from a Japanese restaurant - examples like it can be found in most Chinese menus. Is the assumption that Americans developed a taste for squid only because they don't know what it really is? Chinese menus should call it Yo Ewe, (乌贼 or "oil fish," which reminds you of the high cholesterol). I'd like to know what it's called in Japanese (FYI: Octopus is called "taco" in Japan). And do people who support English only legislation eat Mexican food? If so what do they call tortillas? Or tacos? Are there "English" words for these?

I suspect a royal order of linguistic prejudice. In America monolingual speakers code-switch according to a hierarchy of non-English languages: French and German come first, followed by other languages spoken by white WASPish countries, then Japanese, other Asian languages - the least popular language to gather words from is Chinese. This explains why there are so few cognates and why Americans use the word "Kangi" in the least appropriate circumstances.

"Kan gi" (or Kanji) - is Japanese language way to say "Chinese characters," as in (Kan = Chinese) + (gi = characters) - but American hipsters will refer to Chinese characters as "kangi," even when discussing texts in and/or from China! Boing boing - one of my favorite blogs - is a great place to find this. See comments - here - where if you scroll to comment #57 you can see where I have broached this issue , or here (scroll thu comments) where moderators and commentators alike use a Japanese phrase to say the word Chinese when talking about China. It amounts to China bashing.

what I'm reading - for fun

I'm reading Chinese Americans by Kwong and Miscevic. I'm barely into it and I've learned:

• America's favorite cherry - the large, sweet and succulent Bing - was developed by Ah Bing, a Chinese immigrant horticulturalist, in 1875.
• Lue Gim Gong, the father of the Florida citrus industry, developed the frost resistant orange tree in 1888.
  
• The best doctors in the old west were Chinese traditional herbalists (btw: the Chinese knew how to prevent scurvy by at least the 1400's).
• The Chinese American community had it's share of gunfighters.
  
• Keno was brought to America by Chinese immigrants - originally called "pak kop piu" (white pigeon ticket).
  
• 25% of miners by 1850 were Chinese.
• it was no coincidence the large #'s of Chinese laborers came to the US during the heat of the slavery debate that lead up to the civil war. And plantations in the south sought to replace African American slaves with Chinese indentured workers (who didn't get the vote until the 20th century?) That didn't work out.
  

There's so much from this book I don't want to forget. I will post again on it ASAP, but I only get to read it during my son's nap and sometimes before bed.

Book Report: Brothers

Brothers, by Yu Hua is available in Chinese or English, and in Audiobook form at the Lawrence Public Library. It's long - but I loved it.

The New York Times says

“Brothers” is, in fact, very much a social novel of the late 20th century. It deals with the emergence of China as a capitalist market state, a story familiar to anyone who reads the newspapers, and it’s as blunt, puerile, libidinous and trashily sentimental as any 24 hours of American reality TV. All that ought to make it a blockbuster in the West, as it has been in China, where on its release in 2005 and 2006 (in two volumes) it sold more than a million copies....Imagine a novel written by William Dean Howells together with D. H. Lawrence, updated by Tom Wolfe and then filmed by Baz Luhrmann, and you’ll have some idea of what “Brothers” would be like, had it originated in the West.

It has been criticized as low-brow and crass (especially at home in China), but I doubt anyone who actually read The Faire Queene or Ubu Roi would say that. The author also wrote To Live, which became an amazing movie that China banned - which of course made it a monumental best seller there and abroad.

Book Report: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

This novel by Dai Sijie, is available in Chinese or English - and can be found in audio format in English. Set during the cultural revolution, it treats the it's protagonists with warmth and humor - and the book has been well received critically. It has love, illicit sex, betrayal, and references to western literature. It's set where I've traveled - and I've included some personal pictures - and I may need to tell my story of the young toughs, the stick of dynamite and the Red Chinese Army soldiers. Synopsis: I was clever, something very bad happened, and it wasn't my fault; but this post is about someone else's story.

• study questions
  
• Map available - large.
• Wikipedia on the book by Dai Sijie
• Wikipedia on author (semi-autobiographical?)
  
• Poster images found at Stefan Landsberger's sight.
• history of Chinese Communist Party
  

Characters:

1. Ma - our narrator most of the time. Dr's kid. 18 ?
   
2. Luo - Dentist's kid. 19
   
3. The Little Seamstress (aka: ) age? Innocent or sex kitten?
   
4. Tailor
5. Village chief - ex opium grower.
   

Setting
Phoenix mountain near ChengDu, Yunnan? Year (?)

Books worth reading.

• Nien Cheng, Life and Death in ShiangHi
• Kristoff and WuDunn, China Wakes
• Yu Hua, Brothers
  

Pictures from my travel in the area