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.

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!

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!

The Chinese Don't Understand Christmas

The time has come for the first blog of the new year! Whoop! I was hoping to make this blog post as timely as possible, but my laziness has put an effective end to that... anyways, without further ado, here is a quick summary of Christmas in Beijing!

China has never really been a religious country, or at least not to the same degree as so many Western nations are. Buddhism grew into the religion it is today in large part because of the strong support it received from the Chinese Emperors, but it never swept the nation to the degree Christianity did in Europe (less than 1/5 of the nation considers itself Buddhist today). Both Confucianism and Taoism have strong histories in the nation, but most consider these 'schools of thought' as opposed to actual religions. And the rise of Communism certainly did plenty to hamper the practice of religion. Religion just isn't a popular thing here. You can imagine my surprise then when I discovered that the Chinese seemed more obsessed and excited about the arrival of Christmas than I was.

The Chinese have absolutely no idea what Christmas is all about. They have no idea it has anything to do with Christianity. This is the very definition of an export holiday: the Chinese have taken the commercialized portions of the holiday and exploited it even further in their attempt to 1.) be more Westernized and 2.) make more money off the allure of acting Western. One couldn't go anywhere without seeing pictures of Santa Claus hanging up on the walls and classic Christmas carols dubbed over in Chinese. People were wishing me Merry Christmas on December 1st. There was too much Christmas spirit for its own good, and yet (excuse the cliche) no one knew the true meaning of it. The truth is, I became actively annoyed at the way the Chinese were so obsessive about something they knew nothing about. When I told my class that not everybody in America celebrates Christmas, I was greeted with looks of shock (both from the students and fellow Chinese teachers). I went on to tell them that only Christians celebrate the holiday, and they grew even more confused. I'm not one to prostelitize so I didn't go into any details with the children, but seriously, if Christmas is going to be shoved down the nation's throat then people should at least be somewhat informed about what they hell they're celebrating!

My family came to visit me during Christmas, and for Christmas Eve we went with several friends to an all you can eat/drink dinner at the Marriott hotel. At the door we were all given whistles and noisemakers. Girls were walking around with party hats and light-up devil horns. The place looked like it was celebrating New Year's, which was probably because the Chinese view Christmas more in keeping with a New Year's celebration than a religious holiday. Don't get me wrong, I got drunk and had a lot of fun, but its not Christmas!

When we finished our meal we headed out to attend midnight mass, but the place was so packed it was impossible to get near the entrance, let alone inside. I had heard that it was popular for the Chinese to go to church just to check out what the actual meaning of Christmas was all about, and I actually got tickets in advance to 'guarantee' us a spot, but apparently that wasn't enough. It's great that it was so full, but how many of those people were there for actual religious reasons? My guess would be about half, with the other half crowding into the church just to be able to say they were a part of the Christmas celebration. That left many people who actually celebrated the holiday correctly out in the cold...

Anyways, I'll stop this rant now and leave you all with a video of my favorite class dancing to Christmas carols- enjoy!

Fake Hobos?

This past week has seen an increase in the number of encounters I've had with homeless people. I don't know if its because I haven't done my laundry in a few weeks and my re-worn clothing is producing a comforting, relatable odor to them, but for some reason these people are honing in on me at an alarming rate. I consider myself a fairly generous person, and I'll try to give a few kuai here and there (especially if it’s a woman with a child), but this constant bombardment is starting to get annoying. My one issue is when a homeless person decides to touch me- I'm fine with you asking me for money, but once you start grabbing and tugging at me it gets really annoying and there's no way I'm going to give you anything. Well, thanks to these beggars’s new-found level of comfort with me, the tugging is up. This Friday, I got Mexican food in Sanlitun with Estee, and since we ordered way too much food we needed to take some food to go. As we walked back home, a homeless woman came up to me and started asking for money. I ignored her, so she started tugging on my sleeve. I told her to go away, so she grabs my bag of food and starts tugging on it! This has never happened to me before, and the gumption of her trying to steal my food made me laugh more than anything else, but I still needed to pull my food back from out of her hands and tell her to beat it. THE GUMPTION!

I was riding an escalator a few days ago, and a homeless guy riding in front of me decides it’s a good time to pass out and fall backwards on top of me. I could have moved out of the way, but he probably would have died, so instead I supported him until we got to the top of the escalator. He was just drunk, and once we got off he was good to go, but it took several hours before the sweat smell of shit came off my gloves. THE GUMPTION!

Considering the huge number of people living here in Beijing, there are actually very few homeless on the streets. I know the government cleared the city of pretty much all homeless folk during the Olympics, but now that the summer games have been over for a few months it appears they are slowly making their return back to their old stomping grounds. I had assumed the government had just killed them all, but apparently they were just shipped out of the city for a few months. Anyways, I was talking to my Chinese friend Zhangyi the other day about homeless people, and to my surprise he told me that most of the homeless people on the street were just actors. Apparently CCTV did a report on the homeless, and they found that most of them just dress up to appear homeless because they make a pretty good living off the generosity of Westerners. Zhangyi said that of course there are some real homeless people, but you can't tell who is real and who isn't, so most Chinese just ignore them all. CCTV is controlled by the government, and so you need to take everything they say with a grain of salt, but that is a pretty ridiculous accusation to make. Are you really telling me that begging is so profitable that people are willing to wander the cold Beijing streets day and night dressed up as a bum? Did someone really make a conscious decision to smell like shit and pass out on top of me? If that’s the case, that guys a real asshole. But seriously, what’s up with the government denying all these problems they have? Can't they just admit there is a homeless problem and work to solve it, as opposed to running stories saying that the homeless are actors?

I’m going to go do some laundry, but if I find any further information about these “fake” homeless people I’ll be sure to link it!