Nineteen 51风流 students on an extended study trip are busy exploring the ancient city of Beijing.
They are in a bustling, booming city with an estimated 13,820,000 people in its metro area. Beijing is the political, cultural, and educational center of the country, the most populous in the world.
Students will be sending periodic updates as they tour the city and work on their individual research projects. They arrived in Beijing May 18 and depart June 3. Here are their online journal entries:
鈥 Kay Traester鈥檚 entry
鈥 Alexis Hernandez鈥檚 entry
鈥 Ana Kaufmann鈥檚 entry
鈥 Kevin McAvey鈥檚 entry
Sunday, May 21
Kevin McAvey 鈥05
Today started around 8 a.m. with the incessant beeping of my alarm clock. I hit the snooze and then slowly opened my eyes. For a moment I forgot where I was. And then, with the distant hum of traffic, the monotone voice of a street vendor calling out to customers, and the ringing of bicycle horns, I once again had the most fantastic revelation: I was actually in Beijing.
A half hour later, I was up and ready for the day. Breakfast wasn鈥檛 far, just down past the lobby of our very comfortable hotel and around the corner to the attached restaurant. I sat near the window while eating, watching the native Beijingers head off to work by cab, car, bicycle, or foot.
My own cab ride took me back to the Wangfujing market, where I continued to study its transformation as a commercial district.
Starting out as a simple congregation of merchants in the early 1900s, Wangfujing is now one of the government鈥檚 most touted commercial centers, sporting a new pedestrian walkway that keeps cars, exhaust, and noise pollution far from the shopping landscape.
At its center is the infamous Beijing Department Store. Revolutionary in its design in the 1950s, the five-story mega-store has done everything but fall behind the times. Its design is sleek and hip, recently expanding along the Wangfujing strip to make room for electronic showcases.
However modern Beijing鈥檚 first official commercial business district has become, there are always signs of tradition, whether in the more intimate street markets off the main road or the memorials the government has set up in the midst of it all.
Under another beautiful summer sky, a walk was in order. Around 1 p.m., Kay Traester 鈥05 and I made it to the breathtaking Beihai Park. Meticulously manicured and filled with Chinese who have come to take in the remaining wonders created by the lost dynasties, Beihai was truly a sight to behold, especially from the vantage point of a paddleboat.
On the park鈥檚 immense lake we took out our own S.S. Minnow, showing the city residents that we didn鈥檛 need a motor to make our way across. Greeting and being greeted by Chinese people, pictures were exchanged and memories were made on both sides of our cultural collisions (pun intended).
To finish the long but rewarding day, we visited a local restaurant, ordering a mouthwatering dish of rice and egg and leisurely sipping cool iced tea 鈥 a perfect end to a Beijing afternoon.
Saturday, May 22
Ana Kaufmann 鈥06
I鈥檓 doing my project on Tiananmen Square and what people do there, so I鈥檝e been in the square taking pictures every day. You can tell that the Chinese government is nervous about the upcoming anniversary of the student protests and the eventual crackdown, which occurred on June 4, 1989.
The number of soldiers standing guard has doubled in the past four days. For whatever reason, though, the tourists in the square, especially the Chinese tourists, ignore them. I鈥檝e seen people posing for pictures not 2 feet away from a soldier. Is that a sign of not caring or a sign of fear? I don鈥檛 know. I鈥檇 love to ask, but even if my Chinese was good enough, I鈥檓 not sure they鈥檇 tell me the truth.
On a lighter note, one of the more amusing things to be seen on the square is the large number of tour groups. There are certainly individual tourists as well, but a majority of the people are in groups 鈥 they all follow a guide who has a flag held above his or her head, and usually they are wearing matching baseball caps. I have counted as many as 33 groups walking past me in 30 minutes, usually during the morning when it鈥檚 not so hot.
Besides the tour groups, the biggest presence on the square is the salespeople. I really like the square, but I鈥檓 not enthralled with the ubiquitous sellers of kites, 鈥楻olexes鈥 and 鈥楳ao watches鈥 (which have pictures of Mao on the faces), packages of postcards, stamp books, and copies of the of Mao鈥檚 鈥淟ittle Red Book鈥 of quotations.
After three days in the square by myself, though, I鈥檝e figured out the trick to avoiding these sellers: just keep moving. If I walk, stop for a minute to take a picture, and keep walking, I don鈥檛 get harassed nearly as much as if I stop for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Movement is also key once I do attract the attention of one of these salespeople; simply saying bu yao, xiexie (I don鈥檛 want it, thanks) is much less effective than saying it over my shoulder as I walk away.
Now that I鈥檝e figured out the fine art of not getting postcards offered to me every five minutes, I鈥檓 free to focus on what people are doing on the square. I expect the number of soldiers on the square to keep increasing. Some of the other students on the trip ask me, 鈥淒o you think anything will happen?鈥 And others joke about how I鈥檓 going to get arrested for taking pictures of soldiers. I鈥檒l do my best not to get arrested, and as for the rest 鈥 I鈥檒l just have to wait and see.
Friday, May 21
Alexis Hernandez 鈥07
Our adventure in Beijing seems to be a Chinese version of the movie 鈥淟ost in Translation.鈥 Trying to decipher an eastern culture, research Beijing residents鈥 interactions with nature, and at the same time struggle to speak a few phrases of Mandarin while standing out as a foreigner, is a unique yet challenging task. It seems most of our experiences in China are limited by our inability to communicate efficiently.
On our second day of research, we visited Ditan Park, which is north of the Forbidden City. We were amazed by Beijing residents鈥 interaction with nature. We observed everything from Tai Chi to cricket and meditation to many styles of dancing. At the same time, we could not help but notice how much Chinese people immersed themselves in nature on a daily basis and how it intertwined with their lifestyles.
The most interesting part of the park was a wooded area filled with marble benches. These benches were placed below, next to, and all around the trees. Beijing residents show up early in the morning just to sit on these benches and enjoy nature. They would sit quietly and often have their bodies touch or be covered by the trees. This ritual plays a major part in the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle as well as preserves the balance of their harmonious relationship with nature.
On the same day, we noticed that parks served a greater purpose in Beijing. To our amazement, situated in the middle of the park was a huge market that caters only to local residents. This was one of the places where I felt like an outsider, receiving stares and much attention. Nonetheless, after three hours of wandering, I had my cheeks pinched by an elderly man, was harassed by street vendors, learned bargaining tactics, and even learned a few more phrases in Mandarin.
Though the experience was overwhelming yet wonderful, like actor Bill Murray in 鈥淟ost in Translation,鈥 my actions, words, and interactions at that park were not direct; they were altered and slightly diminished by the extreme differences in our cultures and lifestyles. Never will we know the reasons or complexities of a culture that praises McDonald鈥檚 as much as native dumplings.
Not all was lost in translation though. Though I butchered the language, I managed to walk away with satisfaction after buying more than a dozen items for the equivalent of a few dollars.
Thursday, May 20
By Kay Traester 鈥05
On our first full day in the city, my extended study group headed to Tiananmen Square, home of the infamous 1989 student protests against the Chinese government and a landmark of transition and progress for the metropolis.
It was certainly an art to avoid being harassed by the never-ending salesmen in the square, who did not understand that once we bought one set of postcards, Mao watch, or kite, we did not want to buy 15 more. Luckily, once we took group photos and viewed Mao鈥檚 mausoleum, we escaped to the Inner City and Forbidden City where 10 yuan got us a nice aerial view of the city and several members of our group dressed in traditional Chinese silk garments and posed for pictures.
After touring the impressive walls, thrones, and gates of the Palace Museum, two other students and I hopped in a taxi. We immediately found our driver navigating the cab on the sidewalk to avoid a busy intersection. We all laughed hysterically to help disguise our terror about surviving the ride home.
Our roast duck dinner later that night was very elaborate. I certainly never expected to see a duck鈥檚 head accompany the meat on the plate. This was a bit disconcerting and certainly gave new meaning to the phrase 鈥淐an I have the bill, please?鈥
By far, the best part of the day was when Kevin Li, a 24-year-old student from Beijing University, approached Kevin McAvey 鈥05, IT support analyst Ray Nardelli, and I. Kevin Li, an accomplished calligraphy artist, has traveled to the United States, where his father is a professor of Chinese literature at Boston University.
He introduced us to a fellow student, Hellen, and their calligraphy professor. They showed us their artwork, which was beautiful. Kevin and Hellen answered my questions about the print media in Beijing and what they prefer to read. Hellen said she prefers reading about Western culture and its influence. She believes that women in the United States are freer, more open, have more life choices, and are more beautiful. It is her dream someday to visit the United States.
Their answers will be used in my research project analyzing the print media in the city.
So, despite close encounters with strange meat, taxi drivers, and curious Chinese masses, I survived my first day in Beijing. At this point, I can鈥檛 wait to see what the rest of my time here will bring!
Duck, anyone?