Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Chinese Chivalry?

Yesterday I missed the chance to accomplish one of my life goals. Wow, that sentence definitely sounds more dramatic than it should… to clarify, something I have always wanted to do in my life is go up to a random crying girl and offer her a tissue. Random, I know, and not really a life goal as much as something I’d to say I’ve done. Anyways, I was on the bus yesterday and this girl got on, waved goodbye out the window and started crying. “Wow, this is my chance,” I thought as I reached into my pocket to pull out a tissue. What I failed to take into account is that Beijing buses during rush hour are so packed that it’s impossible to turn your head, let alone push your way through 50 sweaty Chinese to give a girl a tissue. So while this poor thing is bawling her eyes out, I’m stuck 5 feet away with a tissue in hand and never get close enough to give it to her.

What’s the point of this story? The point is that I was the only one in the entire bus who even considered giving the girl a tissue. And as I stood there awkwardly holding that tissue, I started thinking of how un-chivalrous the Chinese are. Now don’t get me wrong, Chinese women can be just as rude as the men here. But I find it particularly interesting watching the interactions here between men and women as compared to back in the States. If people say chivalry is dead back in America, I wonder what they’d say about it here.

For example, Chinese men will not offer the seat on the bus or subway to a woman. Just doesn’t happen. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a group of people rush onto the bus and seen men power-walk past women to get the last seat. More interestingly, I have seen on many occasions a couple get on the bus and the man take the only available seat. This is very different from back home, where the boyfriend will always let the girl sit. Other examples? Men starting to eat their meal before the woman are served; men hogging the umbrella when it rains; and men not holding the door open for women (at least not for strangers). I’m sure I could come up with other examples, but the point is, its pretty prevalent seeing men not acting chivalrous here.

My question is, why? Does it have something to do with the Communist mindset of equality and the woman’s liberation movement it produced? Under that mindset, one could argue that if women are to be viewed as equals within the party, why should they get special privileges? Hm. On the other hand, maybe the lack of chivalry stems back to older, Confucian ideologies that placed women low on the societal totem pole. Under this logic, one could argue men lack chivalry because they lack respect towards women. For all I know, chivalry could be an entirely Western phenomenon that doesn’t have a place in China. Who the hell knows? Of course I’m not saying that all Chinese men lack chivalrous virtues, I’m simply pointing out that the Chinese have a long way to go before they reach Western standards on that front.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

POOOOOOP

What's this? Two posts in one week? Truly a Christmas miracle! I guess the fact that I haven't written anything in a while means that I have plenty of material to write on. Today's subject is on one very close to me and dear to my heart: Poop. That's right, POOP! Now there are many directions I could have taken this subject- either writing about the horrible public bathrooms, or writing about how its OK for children to poop on the sidewalk. Instead though, I'm going to tell you about a very strange phenomenon known as Niu Fen (牛奋/粪). Since the Chinese love puns based on the different tones within the language, Niu Fen has two meanings at once: Fight like an Ox, and Cow Dung. Niu Fen is a popular toy sold during the spring festival fairs, which consist of an inflatable poop-shaped balloon on a stick. That's it, nothing special, just poop on a stick. I don't know why but this thing is hugely popular in Beijing and everywhere you look you see poop hovering above the heads of the crowds. The poop has even expanded to people wearing poop on their heads as a fashion statement. Literally, shit heads.

So based on further research conducted by my friend Evan, Niu Fen was invented by Li Bin - vendor No. 156 at the Ditan Park Temple Fair- who got the idea for the toy last October from watching a popular TV show called Struggle (奋斗/Fen Dou). Apparently Li Bin first thought of calling his invention Bull Market/Shit (牛市/屎Niu Shi), but after discussing it with his brother, they decided to use the more evocative Niu Fen. I haven't seen the show Struggle yet, but if the show inspires poop then I'm assuming constipation is involved. Get it, struggle? Eh, eh? Seriously though, how the hell did this poop product become a big hit? What does it mean? I don't have an answer for you but if I hear anything new I'll post on it, cause I love discussing poop. Anyways, the product has quickly become one of the most popular items at temple fairs around the capital. I even saw it as part of a McDonald's Happy Meal! I don't know of kid who wouldn't be excited to find plastic poop next to his Nuggets... So if you happen to be wandering the streets of Beijing and you see someone carrying something that looks like poop, now you know that's exactly what it is!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

SHUT UP WITH THE FIREWORKS ALREADY!!

OK so I've realized that the past few blog posts have started with me apologizing about not writing because I'm either sick or been vacationing or busy with work. Well I'm in the same boat again, but I'm declaring this the last apology I write for this site! HUZZAH! I am always going to be busy, and chances are I'm not going to have time to write here on a regular basis. Sorry. The truth is I probably don't have any readers who actually care that I haven't written in a few weeks/over a month, but if I do I'm sorry if the above statement offends you. Damn, that's technically another apology. Well whatever, I'm not apologizing for that apology.

Anyways, I hope you're happy China- you've finally gone ahead and gotten somebody killed with all your fucking fireworks! That's right, after weeks and weeks of listening to those damn, non-stop explosions I've finally had enough. I've snapped, and I am so glad that last night was the official end to Chunjie (the Spring Festival). Now don't get me wrong, the eve before Chunjie was one of the very coolest things I've ever witnessed and I would go as far as to say everyone should experience that once before they die. But when the fireworks continue non-stop for weeks after, it loses its appeal. I mean, if we were setting off 4th of July fireworks for weeks after the actual holiday, wouldn't you get a little tired of it? And its not like they're lighting fireworks only at night- these things are going off at 7 am right outside my window. There was this one old man who absolutely loved to wake up before the sun rose and start setting those things off. Well fuck you old man, not everyone loves the spring festival as much as you!

Anyways, as I said before, the fireworks finally claimed a casualty last night as a massive 40-story hotel in the process of being constructed went up in flames. Here's a link to the article on CNN, but the long and short of it is fireworks caught construction materials on fire and the thing went up in flames. One firefighter died and seven were wounded. Maybe if you had just stopped shooting those things after a few days, this wouldn't have happened. The good news is as of midnight last night it is now illegal to light fireworks in Beijing! Hurray, I can actually sleep in past 7 now!

I'll leave this posting with a video I took from a friend's rooftop during the eve of Chunjie- watch the whole thing through cause it really is cool. Enjoy!