A beautiful photograph, taken in an obscure, ruined village in Hebei province by my guter Freund Emilie. (click on me)

北京师范大学辅仁郊区

Beijing Normal University Furen campus

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I'm teaching a few classes at this beautiful institution this semester.  The campus itself has an incredible history: it was part of a massive mansion built in the mid 18th century by a possibly corrupt minister named He Shen. He was later executed and the entire mansion was passed amongst royal family until it was finally bequeathed nearly one hundred years later to Prince Gong, the then emperor's brother.  

In 1921, part of the compound was bought by the Catholic Church and made into Furen Catholic University.  During the cultural Revolution it became, of all things, an air conditioning factory. (If you look carefully, you'll notice rubbed out slogans exalting Mao painted on the facade.

Now Fu Ren campus is completely seperated from Prince Gong's mansion, which is still mostly intact and protected.  The campus is shabby, at best, but glimmers of it's past glory can be seen.

Anyway, my students are fun and have a high English level!  Looking forward to the semester.

More pictures...

 

A restored, but unused, building facing a sparse rock garden.

 A pretty pavilion set amongst a garden.

Protesting, Chinese style

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Walking home from work a couple of days ago I discovered these signs of political protest on a shop around Qianhai.  What I could make out is a familiar horror story in contemporary China; the forced reclaiming of old houses to make way for new construction.  Although the government gives residents cash for the demolished house, many times the house in question is so undervalued that residents cannot afford an apartment in Beijing's inflated real estate market.  

Among the cluster of signs above, the most notable are the characters below Mao's portrait that read "怀念毛主席," or "yearning for Chairman Mao."  Nearly all such silent, passive-aggressive protest evokes Mao's name, something that is nearly as unheard of in contemporary China as protesting in the first place.  To many Chinese, Mao is the symbol of an earlier, backward time, even if his face is emblazoned on all currency.

This is not the first time I've noticed this kind of protesting in Beijing; there is also a shop near Gulou located directly next to a large military headquarters with a sign that reads in English: "FOREIGN JOURNALISTS, PLEASE HELP."  They also prominently feature a portrait of Mao in the window.

How am I implicated by living and working in such a place?

西安王家
Xi'an King

With only a handful of tables and minimal decoration, this easy to pass up, ubiquitous looking hole-in-the-wall serves snacks specific to Shaanxi as well as other house specialties. Their pork and green pepper stuffed sandwiches (肉夹馍) are the best outside of the city that bears their name with homemade buns and perfectly fatty, tasty filling. Also try their potato salad (土豆沙拉); Creamy and fluffy with shredded daikon and carrot, it's frequently ordered and sometimes sold out. Other snacks to try include spinach in ginger juice (姜汁菠菜), their specialty "omelet" (鸡蛋方) and a variety of cold noodles.

It's usually packed for lunch, so be prepared to share a table with strangers if you come alone.

From 北新桥 exit B head north along 雍和宫大街 for around 100 meters. The restaurant will be on your right side.

(millions of unaffordable, cream colored things)

MUJI 無印良品

Beijing is now overrun with the Japanese "lifestyle store" MUJI, which is common in Japan but high luxury in Beijing. This is where you can spend 65RMB ($9.50) on a perfectly simple, unfired clay incense holder. It's like IKEA, but much more desirable.

It's a bit worrying that a two floor superstore selling, among other things, hand brooms and lint rollers at literally ten times the price in regular Chinese stores, can do successful business. How wide is this income gap?

Language note: The Japanese name can be read in Chinese perfectly with the exact same meaning. In simplified characters, it's 无印良品, or "unlabeled" (无印) "fine products" (良品).

An old, abandoned Lada.

(Xisi district)

西四区

The West and South of Beijing are nowhere near as wealthy as the east and parts of the suburban north. Somehow these portions, notably the center west part, have been left behind dramatically in economic development.

Xisi is a surprisingly depressed area not far from my home in distance, but much further away in other ways. Some streets and hutong look unchanged for many years, and there are several temples and markets overflowing onto the streets selling mostly construction equipment and lighting supplies. The beautiful, but unkempt, "white pagoda temple" is nearby, so you can see nuns occasionally walking the streets.

-<+>-

Skimming through the classified, I stumbled upon this little gem. It's a one bedroom house located walking distance to my current apartment, tucked within traditional Chinese courtyards. Not included, for some reason, was a picture of the living room. The price is a bit too steep at 7000RMB (around $1000) a month, considering it's much smaller than my current place.

Hmmm...

Anyway, maybe it's time for a move?

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Gulou street, which is right by my house, is a very popular walking street with lots of clothing shops, a rock club, Chinese style barbecue joints, and traditional courtyards converted into businesses. Walking further into the hutong, you'll reach nanluoguxiang, another shopping street with fashionable clothes and vintage toy shops. (My father called it "cute street.")

These two notable shopfronts were spotted walking from my house to the drum tower. "Let Love Be Your Energy" is a clothing boutique and the white sign on the second picture says "不营业," which means "not a business." (It must be unfortunate to live right on a popular shopping street.)

Some photos from rush hour on the train. It looks not too bad, but trust that it was, and is, crowded during early evening. I'm using more camera more frequently again.

我高峰时间在地铁上拍了这两张照片。我最近几乎每天带着我的照相机。在想一会要开中文的fotoblog. 幸运的是我有中国朋友会把我的博客校对一下。

**__^^ SNOW DAY **--^^

It snowed endlessly this early this week. This is a rare occurrence in dry Beijing, so kids were out making snowmen and everyone was mostly marveling at it all.

Me throwing a snowball.

The target of said snowball.

Oops.

Me on a very cold Beijing morning.

知春里小学二年级

Last day at Zhichunli primary school with my third graders.
(I remember how happy I felt to start summer vacation when I was their age.)

污染天气
AIR POLLUTION

Thursday the 18th in Zhongguancun, a suburb of Beijing. There are dozens of skyscrapers in the distance, totally concealed in smog. One of the worst pollution days since winter.

Same day at dusk near the city center. It rained lightly; a strange, chemical smelling rain.

Me on that classic Chinese bike tour around Tian'anmen Square. (Silvy was also there!)

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It's officially warm in Beijing with some relatively clear skies and outdoor seating at restaurants. More Chinese girls in summer dresses eating popsicles, restaurants are offering cold zhou with osmanthus flower as well as outdoor seating, and old Beijing men with exposed bellies are lounging outside, fanning themselves off.

This afternoon on the subway I saw three older women chatting in a completely foreign Chinese language that I imagine may be from Fujian or a southern province. They had cheap red tour company visors on and seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

Ariel got back from his European trip bringing gifts of cheese and coffee and cookies. He was missed by his Chinese comrades.

Positive things about living in Beijing

• Springtime.
• The Summer Palace.
• Mandarin.
• Visas are easy.
  
• Kindness of Chinese people.
• Emergence of a competent art scene.
  
• New, shiny, fast-paced madness.
• The best public transportation ever.
  
• Cracking sunflower seeds and drinking green tea.
  
• Greasy Cantonese food at one AM.
• Things are cheap.
• Wandering through the hutong.
  
• Produce markets filled with exotic things.
• Bootleg DVDs.
  

Negative things about living in Beijing

• Pollution.
• Endless waves of people.
• Cutting in line.
• Public spitting.
• Really terrible clothing.
  
• Destruction of beautiful, old hutong.
  
• Dirtiness.
• State of public toilets.
• Oily, cheap, MSG-laden food
  
• Missing familiar things.
• Long winters.
• Endless, drab apartment blocks.
• Ignorance of the outside world.
• Oh, and pollution. Pollution. Pollution.