The Middle Kingdom 2007: Impressions & Reflections

Gansu Travels (Part II)

2007-07-20T14:12:00.000+08:00

From Lanzhou, we headed south back towards Xi’an for our next stop in Tianshui (天水) on the way. Tianshui is located in south-eastern Gansu, almost on the border to Shaanxi. The reported GDP per capita for Tianshui was only 3571 yuan in 2004, less than a quarter of that of Xi’an or Lanzhou for the same year. Nonetheless, Tianshui looks like most other Chinese cities (with a KFC decorating the People’s Square), although there seemed to be an abnormally high concentration of bubble-tea stands and luxury hotels (ours not included…).

View over Tianshui (from Yuquanguan)

The main attraction around Tianshui are the Maijishan Grottoes (麦积山石窟). The Maijishan Grottoes are carved high up on a mountain wall (how did they get up there…?!), with an elaborate construction of stairs for tourists to explore the relatively well-preserved statues. There were very few tourists (and no foreign tourists at all) at Maijishan.

With some more time to kill around Tianshui, we also visited the Fuxi temple (伏羲庙) downtown Tianshui. Pretty, but well, nothing we had not seen before.

Our final stop was Yuquanguan (玉泉观), a Daoist temple. This visit was significantly spiced up by old bearded actors dressed up as Daoist monks and calligraphers. Located on the hillside, this spot also provided a good view of Tianshui itself.

We boarded the train back to Xi’an at two o'clock in the afternoon. Choosing between sleepers and no seat, Pravit chose sleepers. As evident, he was very happy with this choice.

Gansu Travels (Part I)

2007-06-20T15:47:00.000+08:00

The first week of classes, our school had arranged a trip to Chengdu from Wednesday to Sunday for group travel-minded students. Since Pravit and I like doing it on our own, we decided not to partake in the trip, but that a five-day long weekend would have to be used for travel outside of Xi’an, despite not yet being particularly familiar with our temporary home town. Thus, whilst going to register for the 汉语水平考试 (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi: the official Chinese for Foreigners proficiency test, roughly similar to the TOEFL or IELTS for English, but with an exclusive focus on multiple-choice questions), we ran into a train ticket agent and got two hard sleeper tickets to Lanzhou (兰州) for the same evening.

没想到乘火车会这么舒服！

兰州站 (Lanzhou Train Station)

It is said that Lanzhou is the most polluted city in China, and Western media frequently publish pictures from Lanzhou of people wearing face masks, not being able to see more than a few meters ahead. In general, this is an exaggeration. Pollution in Lanzhou might be substantial, but hardly much worse than in any other big large anywhere in the world. Nonetheless, since the Lanzhou surroundings boast quite a bit of fine-grain sand, and I would imagine that there could be substantial dust storms on a windy day, which opens up the opportunity for taking pictures making Europe forget about Bush signing Kyoto.

However, the stop of our journey was not Lanzhou, but Xiahe (夏河), a small monastery town in the Tibetan Autonomous Region in western Gansu. Since the last morning bus would leave within less than an hour from our arrival in Lanzhou from the long-distance bus station across town, we got into a cab (we seldom do this nowadays, because we consider going on public transport an intrinsic part of the China experience) . The five-hour coach trip involved quite an altitude change (Xiahe is located more than 2,900 metres above sea level), and took us through a lot of beautiful Gansu scenery. Most people around here are Hui (Chinese Muslims), and impressive mosques dot the green hills.

We also passed by a number of small villages, such as this one, which had a huge market, selling every style and every kind of things.

Xiahe is quite different from most other small towns in this region. The Xiahe population comprises 50% Tibetan, 40% Han and 10% Hui. The Labrang monastery (拉卜楞寺) does not only make the home for some 1,000 monks, but is also a major site of pilgrimage for monks from Tibet. Consequently, the streets of Xiahe are filled with monks in dark red robes, as well as a large number of people dressed up in the Tibetan traditional style of dress.

Apart from the monastery itself, there are a number of colleges concentrated on related teachings around Gansu, such as the 甘肃省佛学院 (“Gansu Province College of Buddhist Studies”), hosted in buildings just as pretty as the monastery itself.

The masses of Tibetans do not enter the monastery itself, but practice their religion along one (or many) of the countless rows of “praying wheels”. Attention all beggars in China: the entrance to one of the rows of prayer wheels is the place to be – one jiao from hundreds and hundreds of people feeling particularly virtuous before they go to pray must add up to more per day than what than what most people employed in the general service sector can hope for.

Although you can wander around the monastery grounds on your own (assuming you have purchased the admissions ticket), tourists can only enjoy the interior of the temples by going on a guided tour. We happened to arrive about ten minutes before the daily English and joined an older white couple of unknown origin and their Chinese guide. However, if you speak any amount of Chinese, it is probably more ideal to take the tour in Chinese, during which explanations are likely to be slightly more vivid.

Tibetans in general and in this region in particular, raise a cow like creature known as a “yak” (pictured below). Yaks are important in Tibetan culinary tradition (yak milk, yak butter, yak meat, etc.). What I would never have thought is how important Yaks apparently are for the monks at the Labrang monastery. There are tons of yak butter sculptures around the monasteries, which must be sculptured and painted anew about every week (as the butter goes rancid). Before, I had wondered how all of these monks keep themselves occupied, but now I know.
Yak

Yak Butter Statue

The Labrang monastery has hundreds of years of traditions, but the monastery as it is today to a large extent reflects the renovations which took place following the Cultural Revolution (the Chinese introduction says that the monastery was “renovated”, whilst the English version claims it was “reconstructed”: something lost in translation?). However, despite the quite recent revamping efforts, some facilities of the monastery do seem a bit “ancient”, e.g., how they deal with waste and sewage.

Getting rid of excess waste was never a problem

Sewage was never a problem

The second day in Xiahe, we decided to hit the grasslands nearby. Since public transport in Xiahe is lacking, your best bet is to get into a taxi, a three-wheeled motorbike, or a minibus to transport you the ten kilometers or so out to the grasslands. What we would never have guessed when we jumped on a minibus in Xiahe, was that the minibus driver would be so “caring”.

Our first stop was in a Tibetan home: in the midst of the grasslands, small cottages are set up with no more than two rooms in each, out of which only one is heated and decorated. On the little platform next to the stove, you can eat, sleep and socialise. Apart from a stove with open fire, each Tibetan home around Xiahe also hosts a TV and a satellite receiver (the latter presumably to receive TV in the Tibetan language: no one speaks or understands Chinese).

The Tibetans are very cordial, and will prepare some of the most excellent Tibetan-style snacks for their foreign visitors. The standard fare is “tsompa”: barley, sugar, yak butter and milk tea stirred into a smooth paste, to be enjoyed the way it is. Generous servings of milk tea is best enjoyed with copious amounts of sugar, and can be topped off with some yak butter to make the famous “butter tea”. (The bread on the picture is just for decoration: no one dared trying it.) Not shown in the picture is the home made yak milk yoghurt, which has a fresh sour-sweet flavour and about the same consistency as jello – not bad at all!

Sugar, "Bread", Milk tea, Tsompa, Yak butter

After our first meal, we went for the horse-ride: compulsory for every long-way tourist visiting the grasslands.

Following the one-hour horse ride, we thought it was the time to reclaim our role as independent, adventure-minded tourists, and stroll around the grasslands on our own for a while. Now, the above-mentioned driver initiated a heated discussion (which would last for about half an hour) on big and blood-thirsty wild dogs roaming the grasslands. He held a long speech about how he was responsible for us on the grasslands after driving us all the way here, and how we could not possible want to be bitten by a dog. Since the medical facilities in Xiahe looked quite a bit dirtier than the Chinese average, this may well have been true. Nonetheless, since we had seen no dogs during our horse-ride, we ignored the well-meant advice and set off.

From a distance, we could see another Tibetan settlement. We figured that if our driver would have gone back to town after our argument, we could probably find someone over there willing to drive us back to civilisation for ten kuai or so.

As we approached the houses, a slightly older lady in beautiful Tibetan dress invited us into her house for a second serving of tsompa. Here, we also got to try a second – more diluted – variety of tsompa, fairly similar to porridge. As we were sipping our milk tea and admiring the new-born kittens and lambs proudly brought into us, our beloved driver suddenly re-appeared, more furious than ever.

We got back to Xiahe a couple of hours before our bus back to Lanzhou would depart. Pravit made sure to buy another long-sleeved shirt in a tiny shop he had discovered the day before (this boy doesn’t like big city fashion), and we had a quick lunch (another varitey on the theme "beef noodles").

That evening in Lanzhou, as were searching for a genuine north-western restaurant to have our dinner, we ran into a Korean Barbeque place. Feeling we had had a bit too much tsompa lately, we simply could not resist...

Night Market in Lanzhou

To be continued...

你今天想吃什么？

2007-06-14T21:13:00.000+08:00

When we go to “good” Chinese restaurants, we usually suffer from the syndrome of not being able to read the menu properly. Although we have tried very hard to study and learn, Chinese 菜名 (names of dishes) are often quite poetic. For instance, a very famous Chinese dish is called 鱼香肉丝, which literally means fish-smelling meat-silk (or meat-thread). As a beginner in the Chinese language, just having learnt the character 鱼 (meaning “fish”), you may order this dish expecting some sort of fish. Actually, this name refers to sour-spicy pork.

One way of dealing with this matter is to go to smaller restaurants (hole-in-the-wall type places): here, you’ll get what you think you’ll get. In Xi’an, the most common dish is by far 牛肉面 (beef noodles), indicating a large bowl of noodles in beef-flavoured stock (about 3 kuai). If you are very lucky, you’ll get a green vegetable or two, and if that happens to be your day, you’ll get some pieces of beef as well. However, meat is usually provided only if you order a more expensive version of the dish (i.e., the “add meat” or “large piece” version). Another popular dish is 包子 (baozi, buns): the street south of the south gate of Jiaoda offers a range of baozi places. My impression is that baozi here are a bit bigger than those that I had in Beijing and Shanghai, but the taste is not very different. In my opinion, baozi is best enjoyed with a generous bowl of soup. The general fare around here is a clear soup with seaweed, coriander, tiny shrimps, spring onions, and occasionally, a lost egg. However, it is important that the two are taken at the same time: in case we first eat baozi and then drink, we all know that one baozi in the stomach quickly becomes seven.

包子

One thing that western universities must learn from their Chinese counterparts is how to feed their students: Jiaoda boasts a number of 食堂 (shitang, “canteen”), of which the largest has three floors for different occasions (the first is very simple, operating for lunch only; the second is mid-range; the third is equipped with wait-staff and table-cloths). “Canteen” is hardly an appropriate translation for a 食堂, since it carries the connotation of lack of choice. The食堂, in contrast, offers almost every kind of (northern) Chinese food that you could imagine. Although it might not be as heartily cooked as at a better restaurant, the price is consistently less than half of what you would usually pay. (+ for the abundant supply of fresh fruit as well!)

食堂

Arriving in Xi'an

2007-06-09T11:27:00.000+08:00

After the not-too-bad sleeper-coach trip, we arrived in Xi'an on the morning of May 26. Not spotting any bus stop nearby, and being to lazy to look around, we took a taxi to Xi'an Jiaotong Daxue, or Jiaoda, as people call it around here (there are a number of Jiaotong (Communications) universities around China, but since there's only one in Xi'an, it's pretty obvious which one Jiaoda refers to.

Having walked around campus on random for twenty minutes or so, we stumbled on 汉语进修学院 (Chinese Language Advanced - or, more like short term and a bit intensive - Studies College, and figured this was the place where we were supposed to be. A helpful man at the door helped us fill out our residence forms and we got our room key. It also turned out that the air conditioning in our room actually worked - a good thing given that July temperatures tend to hit the 40C range more often than not.

The foreign students' dormitory and the school are located in the same building: this is very well thought out, since this means that even the sleepiest foreign students will have the chance to crawl out of bed and get in time for class when an irritatingly high bell rings at 7.55am. The dormitory is quite well equipped, with most things you would have wished for, including fridge, microwave oven, hot water boiler, washing machine and the like. More importantly, there is a 留学生建议箱 (Foreign Students' Suggestions Box) above the washing machine: an excellent example of the high level of direct democracy practised in the People's Republic. I have not yet put this tool of democracy into practise, but one possible suggestion would be to let the hot water run until 11pm as stated, rather than cutting it off at 10.45 when I'm in the shower and still need to rinse my hair.

Having caught a glimpse of the Korean students' rooms from the corridor, often equipped with mobile wooden floors and a lot of nice decorations, we decided that the easiest way to make our room a bit more like a home would be to exchange the hospital-like white-yellowish bedsheets with something more colourful. We made a trip to a larger supermarket nearby (more like a Walmart or the like - you can buy everything there), and invested in new and rosy bedsheets, only to realise that the beds in the Foreign Students' Dormitory are substantially longer than the Chinese standard (by 30 cm or so). So, not a perfect fit, but they work.

Chinese Supermarket

There is a substantial number of Muslim Chinese around (the Hui "nationality" are Han Chinese practising Islam). Most Chinese Mosques are built in Middle-Eastern style (with domed roofs, etc.), but the most famous Mosque in Xi'an is indistinguishable from any other Chinese temple. Nonetheless, it's pretty and quite peaceful.

Chinese Style Mosque

Chinese Muslim Quarter (away from the main tourist street)

我最喜欢的小吃 (favourite rice snack: sweet and colourful!)

钟楼 (Bell tower, downtown Xi'an…… 这个地方的外国人许多，都穿得很难看的衣服，真让人累死了……）

On the road to Xi'an

2007-05-30T20:32:00.000+08:00

When I came out from the airport in Beijing, it felt like I had come home again. At the same time, I could not have felt more different from last year: then, I was worried about how to get on the right bus to downtown Beijing; now, I did it the Chinese way and asked about seven people who pointed me in the right direction. Since I had done my research about how to get to the hotel very carefully, the trip over there was very smooth. The hotel staff wouldn't let me check in at first (sincethe booking was made in Pravit's name), but after I had given some convincing arguments and some renminbi, they were more than happy to provide me with the hi-tech key-card. (Pravit arrived about 8 hours later, having walked around the streets of Beijing for about 2 hours, as a result of dedicating his pre-departure research to his South Korean layover exclusively... read about this in Pravit's blog).

The second day in Beijing, we went to visit our old school. They seemed to have more students than last year, now approaching 20 or so. Pravit's favourite teacher (I think he fancies her a little bit...), seemed very happy to see us, and offered to cook us dinner for the evening. We politely declined the offer, since we were set for a genuine 烤鸭 (Beijing roast duck) experience at 全聚德 (Quanjude, the most famous 烤鸭店 in Beijing).

However, since it was only about three o'clock in the afternoon when we left our school, we felt that this was the right time to get a modern haircut Chinese style. Having heard that they do 10 kuai haircuts in our school's xiaoqu, we decided to seize the opportunity. Although wage levels in China are quite low, it's obviously quite difficult for the large number of hair salons to go around if had they been doing 10 kuai haircuts exclusively. Thus, when a foreigner with a different hair type walks in, they will also suggest that you do a deep care treatment using the exclusive German 威拉 (Wella) brand products, for about 250 kuai (which in my opinion is not really worth the money even after a competetive 20% discount. Pravit, on the other hand, seems to be quite happy with his 70 kuai perm, which does make him look more like the average Chinese on the street. Today, perms seem to be the norm in larger Chinese cities, as opposed to during the Cultural Revolution, during which asking for anything other than a plain cut was deemed Bourgeoisie.

The duck at 全聚德 was okay (but not better than any other roast duck we've tried). The portions were rather French, so for once we walked out from a restaurant rather comfortably full.

In the evening, we left for 大同 (Datong), with a slightly delayed train from Beijing West Railway Station (itself another example of quite magnificent socialist architecture). The trip itself was quite horrid, but since we're young and vital, we managed well. Having realised that the trains between Datong and Xi'an (our final destination) were few, slow and only offered 无座 (no seat), we started discussing the possibility of going back to Beijing to take a Z-train to Xi'an. In despair, we got in touch with the CITS (China International Travel Service, another great socialist institution), whose staff seems mostly preoccupied with playing card games on their computer and never really managed to help us before. This time, however, the CITS guy got us (slightly overpriced) coach tickets on a sleeper(!) coach to Xi'an for the same afternoon. The sleeper coach was unexpectedly comfortable, and the communal TV screens provided a mix of Mainland, Hong Kong and Thai(!) entertainment (all dubbed into Mandarin), most of which dated back to the early 90s.

We arrived in Datong around 5am. The town itself is quite picturesque, possibly a role model for other medium-sized cities throughout the People's Republic (based around the coal-industry, with huge squares and a shining town hall decorated with Mao quotations urging the people to struggle in Marxist-Leninist spirit).

However, the main reason we came here was to visit the 云冈石窟 (Yungang Caves). The place is absolutely magnificent, and anyone having the opportunity to come here should definitely do so. (The beauty of this place simply does not come out on picture...)

动物是一种昆虫才可以伤害它们吧

2007-05-23T08:17:00.000+08:00

明天要去中国了，兴奋得很！到了北京，我们首先在那儿呆一天，接着去几个地方玩。最后星期一早晨到西安找学校上课。

我今天做火车回家时，听到一位父亲和他的七八岁的儿子谈话：
“乌龟，可以吃吗？”儿子对父亲问。
“嗯，好久以前有不少吃乌龟的人，可是现在这里没有人吃了”父亲向儿子说明。
“是吗？为什么？”儿子很好奇地问。
“因为乌龟现在越来越少了。我们应该保护乌龟，要不快就没有乌龟了。再说，我们应该保护什么样的动物。”父亲对儿子说教。
“噢，那动物是一种昆虫才可以伤害它们吧？”
“不可以呀！我们应该保护各种各样的动物：昆虫也是一种活着的动物，我们一定要保护昆虫啊！”
“那，你和妈在家里为什么常常把昆虫吸到吸尘器里面呢？这样它们一定死了吧？我看，我们快没有昆虫了。”
听见儿子的这句话后，父亲就不出声了。

下面的照片是今天晚上在斯德哥尔摩市中心拍的。快要离开瑞典了~~~~~~

everybody go different way to see the same thing.

2007-05-07T00:58:00.000+08:00

我今天跟家人一起去饭馆吃午饭。这家饭馆在斯德哥尔摩的郊区，食物没什么特别，可是景色很不错。饭馆的墙上挂着一张牌子，上边写着一句英语。我不知道为什么用英语写这句话，但它让我想起中国来，因为它有和中国很多英语牌子差不多的语法问题。

桥上快乐：哥哥、父亲、本人

现在有自己的博客了！

2007-05-05T04:58:00.001+08:00

大家好！我是一个从瑞典来的女孩，今年二十二岁了，对中国和中国文化很感兴趣。我是去年在北京开始学汉语的，今年五月二十四日再去中国留学。我的中文写得不太好，可是，口语比写作更差了。这次到中国我要去西安上学，在西安交通大学学十个星期汉语。我打算在博客上描述我在西安的生活，一边告诉别人我对西安有什么感觉，一边提高自己的写作技能。

我两天以前已经收到从学校寄过来的录取通知书了。我一看见那封外边写着西安交通大学的信，就十分兴奋了。现在只要向大使馆申请签证，就去得了中国了。能不是很开心吗？

After days of contemplation and considerable pressure from my parents, I have decided to create my own blog: this time, a travel blog. On here, I hope to share my experiences at and around Xi'an Jiaotong University, where I will be studying Chinese between June and August 2007. The blog is intended to be bilingual in nature, but no attempt will be made at matching the two versions - some things are better written about in Chinese and some things are better written about in English. I am very humble about my Chinese writing skills, and anything written in Chinese on here should be regarded as a post-beginner's blunt attempt at forming semi-coherent sentences in a foreign language.

Two days ago I received my admissions letter and student visa form from China. Now, I only need to make my way out to the Chinese embassy and get myself a visa before the great China dream can be realised.