Jews first came to China from Persia as early as the 8th century via the Silk Road. Some of them settled in what was then the Chinese capital, Kaifeng. They brought a Torah with them, built a synagogue and followed Jewish law, including keeping kosher. They were treated well by the Chinese and the local Muslim community. Marco Polo met some of them in Beijing in the 13th century and Jesuit missionaries visited them in later centuries. A series of floods from the Yellow River repeatedly leveled the synagogue, which was last rebuilt in the 17th century. After a few more generations, the Kaifeng Jews, like the Mongols and Manchus and other foreign peoples who had come to China, were almost totally assimilated.
Western scholars have long been fascinated by this small community, which never numbered more than 2000 people. It also has been studied by some Chinese scholars, most notably by Xu Xin here at Nanjing University. Prof Xu originally taught American literature when he became fascinated by Jewish writers like Saul Bellow and Phillip Roth. He founded the Judaic Studies Center here and has written two books about Kaifeng Jews. He now runs one of the most successful programs at the University and has raised $15 million from foreign donors so that he can send his students to Israel to study Hebrew, hire visiting lecturers and attract hundreds of undergraduates and dozens of graduate students to his courses.
I have known about Xin's work for years and got in touch with him as soon as I learned I would be teaching at Nanda. Marcus's Hebrew tutor and my Chinese tutor are both graduate students in his program. I lectured in one of his classes some weeks ago and we began talking about making a trip to Kaifeng. Xin arranged an invitation for me to speak at the Judaic Studies program at Henan University in Kaifeng. Xin was kind enough to come with Marcus, Irene and me on the trip.
We took a fast evening train from Nanjing and arrived in Kaifeng in less than five hours. Our hotel had overbooked so they upgraded us to their "VIP" suite, a huge room with a jacuzzi in the middle. After breakfast, Xin took us to a Kaifeng theme park. The city is relatively small for China and doesn't have much industry, so it's trying to attract tourists. The Milennium City Park has pavilions, rivers and squares where performers act out battles, acrobatics and arts and crafts. My favorite was the fire eater. At one point, he drank a bowl of maotai (strong Chinese liquor) then spit it up in the air at a burning stick, shooting flames high in the air.
But the real reason Xin took us there was to see a small two-story house in the park that told the story of the Kaifeng Jews. He had helped put together the exhibits based on his research. It included copies of their Hebrew writing that showed evidence it had been transcribed from spoken words rather than from another text (the "lameds," l's, had been written as "raishes," r's), a copy of the steles that told some of the history of the community, a small model of the synagogue complex, and sketches of some members of the community. Later that day, we visited the site of the former synagogue, which is now a hospital. Xin also took us to visit the family of Guo Yan, who still identify themselves as Kaifeng Jews. The family doesn't follow any Jewish practices but, with Xin's help, greets occasional Jewish guests from around the world in their small home in a narrow hutong. Xin got government approval to put up street signs identifying their street as "Teaching the Torah Lane. Guo's family has some pictures and art work in their home and sells paper cuts, including one based on the design of the synagogue. They also have a website.
That evening, I spoke to about 100 students and faculty at the university. My topic as "Who is a Jew?" and I discussed how difficult it is to answer the question since Jews have adapted and changed their traditions, languages, beliefs and practices in different societies over thousands of years. The students seemed knowledgeable and asked good questions, including one I always dread answering. Why did Hitler and the Nazis hate the Jews and murder them? I answered with a question. We all know that the Chinese people have a rich history and culture and are a wonderful people, I said. What would you say if I asked you why people hate the Chinese?
We enjoyed our VIP suite for another night and then headed off to visit the legendary Shaolin Temple. Marcus and I are off on another road trip today to Tianjin--I'm lecturing on journalists in American film at Nankai University. Irene will pick up the story of Shaolin and the Longmen caves when we return. She's got her final in advanced acupuncture and moxibustion this week so she's staying in Nanjing.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Land Reform
OK, I'm on a roll here. One of my students did an extra story about one of the central issues in China today, land reform. Here's part of her story:
--, an apprentice in a barbershop on Guangzhou Lu, had to leave his family five years ago. His home is in Shihu village of Chaohu county, Anhui province. His two little brothers are still living there now.
When I asked him why he left his family, he shook his head and kept silent for a while.“ Money!My family needs money !”he said.“When I graduated from high school, I went to Nanjing to look for a job. I wanted to study in university but my family didn’t have enough money for it because my two little brothers also needed money to pay tuition. As the eldest son, I felt that I must help my parents lightening the heavy burden on them.”
--- said his parents were farmers and once had more than ten mus of farmland. They mainly planted wheat, paddy rice and some other vegetables. His parents could only earn four hundred yuan every month by cultivating the land when --- was in middle school. The money didn’t cover their monthly expenses,so they had to borrow money from others and then fell deep into in debt.They wanted to sell the usage rights of their land but this was prohibited by the law.
One day two village officials came to his home and said that the local government needed to expropriate their farmland to build industrial parks and would compensate them for the loss with three thousand per mu.
“We dared not refuse and that was a large sum of money indeed," --- said. "We could use the money to pay the debts. So we transferred our farmland to the government. Later we learned that the government sold the land to some developers for ten thousand per mu."
__ and his parents left home and became migrant workers.
“Now I earn eight hundred yuan every month and the barbershop is my home in Nanjing. There are also several boys and girls like me in the shop. We work in the daytime and sleep on the sofa at night. We lack social security and face prejudice from others.”
I asked him what his family would do if the country returned their land and they had private ownership.“Sell our land at a higher price and become residents of the city,” he said.
On October 19, the Communist Party Central Committee issued a policy document as a guideline to further rural reform and development. Many experts and scholars believe that farm ownership will change soon and farmers will be allowed to mortgage and sell their farmland. But those changes don’t actually appear in the new Party document.
“At present, China's rural land reform has its bottom line,”said ---, a sociology professor at Nanjing University.
In ---’s view, rural land reform should be a long-term process. Permanent land use rights are equivalent to private ownership and that can’t be achieved in the current conditions, --- said.
“The breakthrough in the reform of land property rights depends on the level of economic development and the development of democratic politics,” he said. According to domestic law, farmland is collectively owned, but meted out to farmers in small plots by leasing contracts.
“Collectively owned” is a vague concept. In fact, the country is the true owner of the land. The local governments usually use the rights to buy the farmland back from farmers at a very low price in the name of “the collective” and sell the land at a higher price to a land agent. This expropriated land has become the government's main source of revenue. If farmers become true masters of the land, the government will lose a major source of income.
And if farm ownership becomes private,more and more farmers will give up their land by mortgaging or selling it and then move into the cities. That will bring more pressure on the already overcrowded cities. If the farmland is sold to developers, this also might further threaten the country's food safety and significantly reduce food production.
The new Party policy, --- said "will break the monopolizing right of government purchasing land... Simply speaking, farmers will not have to sell farmland usage rights to local governments at an unfair price but can sell them to users directly at a reasonable price.”
But this change, he said, is not "land reform" in the strict sense. The government has just adopted some more liberal policies. The current system will be kept stable and unchanged for a long time.
“In addition, ideology is a big problem,” ____said.“Allowing farmers to become true masters of the land means private ownership. In essence, it is contrary to the socialist public ownership and may be seen as the collapse of socialism.”
“How to make farmers have their own land and houses and benefit from land value-added gains is not only an economic issue," he said. "It must be seen as the fundamental rights of farmers as citizens. If this problem cannot be solved, it is impossible to solve the other problems in Chinese rural land reform.”
--, an apprentice in a barbershop on Guangzhou Lu, had to leave his family five years ago. His home is in Shihu village of Chaohu county, Anhui province. His two little brothers are still living there now.
When I asked him why he left his family, he shook his head and kept silent for a while.“ Money!My family needs money !”he said.“When I graduated from high school, I went to Nanjing to look for a job. I wanted to study in university but my family didn’t have enough money for it because my two little brothers also needed money to pay tuition. As the eldest son, I felt that I must help my parents lightening the heavy burden on them.”
--- said his parents were farmers and once had more than ten mus of farmland. They mainly planted wheat, paddy rice and some other vegetables. His parents could only earn four hundred yuan every month by cultivating the land when --- was in middle school. The money didn’t cover their monthly expenses,so they had to borrow money from others and then fell deep into in debt.They wanted to sell the usage rights of their land but this was prohibited by the law.
One day two village officials came to his home and said that the local government needed to expropriate their farmland to build industrial parks and would compensate them for the loss with three thousand per mu.
“We dared not refuse and that was a large sum of money indeed," --- said. "We could use the money to pay the debts. So we transferred our farmland to the government. Later we learned that the government sold the land to some developers for ten thousand per mu."
__ and his parents left home and became migrant workers.
“Now I earn eight hundred yuan every month and the barbershop is my home in Nanjing. There are also several boys and girls like me in the shop. We work in the daytime and sleep on the sofa at night. We lack social security and face prejudice from others.”
I asked him what his family would do if the country returned their land and they had private ownership.“Sell our land at a higher price and become residents of the city,” he said.
On October 19, the Communist Party Central Committee issued a policy document as a guideline to further rural reform and development. Many experts and scholars believe that farm ownership will change soon and farmers will be allowed to mortgage and sell their farmland. But those changes don’t actually appear in the new Party document.
“At present, China's rural land reform has its bottom line,”said ---, a sociology professor at Nanjing University.
In ---’s view, rural land reform should be a long-term process. Permanent land use rights are equivalent to private ownership and that can’t be achieved in the current conditions, --- said.
“The breakthrough in the reform of land property rights depends on the level of economic development and the development of democratic politics,” he said. According to domestic law, farmland is collectively owned, but meted out to farmers in small plots by leasing contracts.
“Collectively owned” is a vague concept. In fact, the country is the true owner of the land. The local governments usually use the rights to buy the farmland back from farmers at a very low price in the name of “the collective” and sell the land at a higher price to a land agent. This expropriated land has become the government's main source of revenue. If farmers become true masters of the land, the government will lose a major source of income.
And if farm ownership becomes private,more and more farmers will give up their land by mortgaging or selling it and then move into the cities. That will bring more pressure on the already overcrowded cities. If the farmland is sold to developers, this also might further threaten the country's food safety and significantly reduce food production.
The new Party policy, --- said "will break the monopolizing right of government purchasing land... Simply speaking, farmers will not have to sell farmland usage rights to local governments at an unfair price but can sell them to users directly at a reasonable price.”
But this change, he said, is not "land reform" in the strict sense. The government has just adopted some more liberal policies. The current system will be kept stable and unchanged for a long time.
“In addition, ideology is a big problem,” ____said.“Allowing farmers to become true masters of the land means private ownership. In essence, it is contrary to the socialist public ownership and may be seen as the collapse of socialism.”
“How to make farmers have their own land and houses and benefit from land value-added gains is not only an economic issue," he said. "It must be seen as the fundamental rights of farmers as citizens. If this problem cannot be solved, it is impossible to solve the other problems in Chinese rural land reform.”
Milk Scandal
I don't think many of my grad students here will become journalists--most are worried about supporting their parents and (surprise) journalists aren't well paid--but they are doing some terrific stories. I've got them working in teams to investigate different angles on the milk scandal.
So many things come together here: rapid economic growth, corruption, limited government regulation, the plight of the peasants, health care and the lack of a social safety net.
Here's part of one story:
The milk industry in China has grown dramatically in the past ten years. That rapid growth has involved high risks, a ----- professor at Nanjing University says, and those risks can be linked to the Sanlu milk scandal,
Professor ---- recollected the history of the milk industry from 1998- to 2007 and defined it as “The Great Leap Forward” of China’s milk industry”. Sanlu led the way in aggressively producing and marketing its milk. But high speed also means high risk, --- says.
“Melamine is the result of unceasing experiments by people to produce fake milk,” --- says.
Sanlu doesn’t have any farms or cows. They just collect original milk from milk stations or milk peasants. Seventy percent of the profit goes to Sanlu and 20 percent to the milk stations, leaving only 10 percent for the peasants. If the peasants or milk stations want to increase their profit margins, they add water and chemicals to the milk, --- says.
In addition, the demand for milk continues to exceed the supply. --- suggests that inbreeding among cows may have reduced their productivity.
From a story about advertising:
Most parents today believe formula milk products provides all the minerals needed for babies’ wisdom and robustness and it must be better than breast milk. People get this opinion from the heavy advertisements on television or in newspapers that are repeated over and over again.For example, one TV advertisement of Sanlu infant formula says:“It’s mothers’ achievement to have greater children. Our products make babies smarter, healthier, greater.” Another one uses such words:“The choice of thousands mothers. Let wisdom create future.”The scene on TV shows lovely little babies playing with toys with English letters happily and as their mothers watch joyfully.
As most Chinese have only one child today, the whole family usually does whatever they can to make their baby stronger and smarter. The only thing they’re afraid of is if their baby falls behind others. As long as a product can help, they will not care about the price.
“Those advertisements touch young parents easily,” Dr--says. She a little helpless. But she says that, in fact, no infant formula contains the perfect combination of proteins, carbohydrates and fats to enhance brain development as well as breast milk does.
Dr --- says that a rule approved in 1995 prohibits companies which produce infant milk powder from advertising their products or promoting them on the packaging, banning any images of babies and requiring a statement that promotes breast feeding.Most companies ignore this rule, she says, and no government department has taken action.
Another group of students wrote a moving account of a peasant family which brought their sick baby to Nanjing Children's Hospital for treatment after their local hospital failed to remove the kidney stones. The baby is recovering now and the government is paying for his care, but they haven't been reimbursed for the 10,000 yuan they paid the local hospital or the loss of income when they had to leave their farm for two months.
And the legal system hasn't come up with a solution yet since courts have been dismissing individual lawsuits and not permitting class action suits.
So many things come together here: rapid economic growth, corruption, limited government regulation, the plight of the peasants, health care and the lack of a social safety net.
Here's part of one story:
The milk industry in China has grown dramatically in the past ten years. That rapid growth has involved high risks, a ----- professor at Nanjing University says, and those risks can be linked to the Sanlu milk scandal,
Professor ---- recollected the history of the milk industry from 1998- to 2007 and defined it as “The Great Leap Forward” of China’s milk industry”. Sanlu led the way in aggressively producing and marketing its milk. But high speed also means high risk, --- says.
“Melamine is the result of unceasing experiments by people to produce fake milk,” --- says.
Sanlu doesn’t have any farms or cows. They just collect original milk from milk stations or milk peasants. Seventy percent of the profit goes to Sanlu and 20 percent to the milk stations, leaving only 10 percent for the peasants. If the peasants or milk stations want to increase their profit margins, they add water and chemicals to the milk, --- says.
In addition, the demand for milk continues to exceed the supply. --- suggests that inbreeding among cows may have reduced their productivity.
From a story about advertising:
Most parents today believe formula milk products provides all the minerals needed for babies’ wisdom and robustness and it must be better than breast milk. People get this opinion from the heavy advertisements on television or in newspapers that are repeated over and over again.For example, one TV advertisement of Sanlu infant formula says:“It’s mothers’ achievement to have greater children. Our products make babies smarter, healthier, greater.” Another one uses such words:“The choice of thousands mothers. Let wisdom create future.”The scene on TV shows lovely little babies playing with toys with English letters happily and as their mothers watch joyfully.
As most Chinese have only one child today, the whole family usually does whatever they can to make their baby stronger and smarter. The only thing they’re afraid of is if their baby falls behind others. As long as a product can help, they will not care about the price.
“Those advertisements touch young parents easily,” Dr--says. She a little helpless. But she says that, in fact, no infant formula contains the perfect combination of proteins, carbohydrates and fats to enhance brain development as well as breast milk does.
Dr --- says that a rule approved in 1995 prohibits companies which produce infant milk powder from advertising their products or promoting them on the packaging, banning any images of babies and requiring a statement that promotes breast feeding.Most companies ignore this rule, she says, and no government department has taken action.
Another group of students wrote a moving account of a peasant family which brought their sick baby to Nanjing Children's Hospital for treatment after their local hospital failed to remove the kidney stones. The baby is recovering now and the government is paying for his care, but they haven't been reimbursed for the 10,000 yuan they paid the local hospital or the loss of income when they had to leave their farm for two months.
And the legal system hasn't come up with a solution yet since courts have been dismissing individual lawsuits and not permitting class action suits.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
He's so handsome
I watched the election results this morning at the John Hopkins Center for Chinese and American Studies. As the early voting was being announced on CNN on a screen behind me, I commented briefly on how new media and technology changed the way this campaign was covered. Then a Chinese student spoke. She (like so many Chinese I've talked with) said it won't make much difference who wins but she likes Obama because he's so handsome. Then, as the result became clearer, a Chinese professor lauded Obama for making history. "Perhaps 20 years from now," he said, "we can have an election like this in China."
****
Random observations on the street:
--a stylish young woman in a black leather jacket, gray wool pants and heels strolls down Guangzhou Lu (the street just outside where we live on campus) past the Adidas store chatting on her cell phone in her left hand. In her right hand, she holds a large handbag, a small shopping bag and a very large chicken.
--Marcus got new winter slacks for school but without cuffs. Nina set out Sunday to find a tailor shop but came upon a chainsmoking grandma with a sewing machine who worked in a small shop next to the student cafeteria. Nina called a Chinese friend who passed on her instructions to grandma. She sewed cuffs for three pair of pants in less than an hour for 12 yuan, about $1.50.
--Nina reports there's a fascinating shell game on the sidewalk outside. Passersby keep betting and keep losing as the young man hides a coin inside a teacup and somehow makes it disappear
******
I've done a few more guest lectures at other universities in town as well as to Judaic Studies classes here. Also showing some films ("Shattered Glass" to journalism students, "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) at Judaic Studies). Marcus continues to set new records with his Playstation Portable and we find time for the golf driving range, badminton and ping pong. He's also making amazing progress on his Torah portion with his Israeli tutor. My Chinese is getting better and Nina is now taking a qi gong class as well as working in the clinic every morning and taking traditional Chinese medicine classes every afternoon.
Next week, the director of Judaic Studies is taking us to Kaifeng, the ancient capital (and, many centuries ago, the site of a large Jewish community) where I'll give a lecture. Then we'll tour Kaifeng and also travel to Luoyang (historic caves and Buddhist rock carvings) and Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of kungfu.
Time to go pick up the boy and tell him about the election results.
****
Random observations on the street:
--a stylish young woman in a black leather jacket, gray wool pants and heels strolls down Guangzhou Lu (the street just outside where we live on campus) past the Adidas store chatting on her cell phone in her left hand. In her right hand, she holds a large handbag, a small shopping bag and a very large chicken.
--Marcus got new winter slacks for school but without cuffs. Nina set out Sunday to find a tailor shop but came upon a chainsmoking grandma with a sewing machine who worked in a small shop next to the student cafeteria. Nina called a Chinese friend who passed on her instructions to grandma. She sewed cuffs for three pair of pants in less than an hour for 12 yuan, about $1.50.
--Nina reports there's a fascinating shell game on the sidewalk outside. Passersby keep betting and keep losing as the young man hides a coin inside a teacup and somehow makes it disappear
******
I've done a few more guest lectures at other universities in town as well as to Judaic Studies classes here. Also showing some films ("Shattered Glass" to journalism students, "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) at Judaic Studies). Marcus continues to set new records with his Playstation Portable and we find time for the golf driving range, badminton and ping pong. He's also making amazing progress on his Torah portion with his Israeli tutor. My Chinese is getting better and Nina is now taking a qi gong class as well as working in the clinic every morning and taking traditional Chinese medicine classes every afternoon.
Next week, the director of Judaic Studies is taking us to Kaifeng, the ancient capital (and, many centuries ago, the site of a large Jewish community) where I'll give a lecture. Then we'll tour Kaifeng and also travel to Luoyang (historic caves and Buddhist rock carvings) and Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of kungfu.
Time to go pick up the boy and tell him about the election results.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
"Are you ready for the country, because it's time to go."
Two hours by bus and subway and a world away from urban China.
Jim, Marcus and I were invited (actually invited ourselves) to the home of one of his friend's parents. Both he and his parents, he tells us, are very happy we want to take the time to meet them. I am spending the week trying to figure out the appropriate gift to bring: I settle on a basket of fruit our family picks out from the local city markets because we are told that: 1) It is a traditional gift when Chinese visit hosts; and 2) Fresh fruit that is not grown in the village can be quite expensive for those who live there.
Our friend's parents are "peasants" and the only reason we are getting to meet them is because this colleague did so amazingly well at school that he received scholarships that allowed him to continue in school -- all the way through his PhD -- a literally one-in-a billion case.
So we are all together, ambling up a newly paved path ("This is no good...no plants can grow here now" says Jim's colleague). I'm surprised at this country attitude coming from a city-living PhD-er.
His father and his father's oldest brother greet us: the father in a Nike windbreaker and tennis pro cap and uncle wearing a wool suit. We walk over the path, rice fields on either side of us, looking yellow green in the distance and reaching toward the mountains. The air is fresh.
The house consists of three structures: an outhouse (a squat toilet connected to the pig stalls) an open room with a dining table, benches, a wall full of our friend's school achievement certificates with official red star stamps (the display had to be rearranged several times, as the awards kept coming), and bags of fresh rice from his family's fields (the brown for the pigs, the white for people); and a house with an open kitchen and one closed room: the bedroom.
Our friend's mom, about my size with a brown wrinkle-less face, huge smile, straight strong back, serves us duck with potatoes, chicken, a greens and tofu dish, rice, and stir-fried cilantro. We dig into the greens and cilantro though the family has strategically placed the meat in front of us. It's all just so good.
Later, Marcus and I feed brown rice and its chaff to the ducks, and chickens (which sneak into the dining area, but are shooed away by our friend's mom) and pigs. I admire the baby pigs and our friend's dad makes the slash-across-the-throat sign ie: "do I want him to slaughter it so I can eat it?" Somehow I'm able to communicate that it is not that kind of like, so the baby pig lives another day.
At some point, after several cups of tea, I have to use the bathroom, and our friend's mom worries that perhaps I should use the village toilet, and I insist that theirs is just fine. I try to balance myself and commune with the pigs and it all works out.
We are the only foreign family in recent memory to visit the village, and we try to not commit any faux pas, though it's hard to know what is or is not acceptable. We come to understand that not having third helpings would have been an insult, but we are expected at another professor's home that evening for dinner and not eating at THAT home would have been an insult: so we get away with just having seconds.
Jim and Marcus are doing well speaking and understanding the Chinese conversation. But then Marcus has a hard time at one point listening and smiling to all this adult talk (very few kids in the village as families who can move to the city often do, unfortunately) and asks to play with his hand-held game computer. I say "no." So, instead, he goofs around and starts making animal noises, and our friend's father declares he must be very bright, as any boy in the village who can do such a thing is considered very smart. I think he is being polite, but I'll accept it.
We take two long walks, one through the village center and see a few kids. One little boy starts crying because he is afraid of the foreigners. One little girl hides, then bravely says hello. I make a baby laugh by tickling his feet, so I feel I successfully communicated.
We are invited back, and I am amazed at what I saw. I ask our friend if he thinks living in the city or country is "easier" and he believes country life is better, "because you always have food."
I do hope things continue to go well for his parents. As an only child in a system with no pension, our friend will be their sole source of support should they be unable to work. I ask him what their thoughts are on his amazing achievement. His father's parents were able to afford 6 years of school, his mother's, two. "They have no idea," he says.
Jim, Marcus and I were invited (actually invited ourselves) to the home of one of his friend's parents. Both he and his parents, he tells us, are very happy we want to take the time to meet them. I am spending the week trying to figure out the appropriate gift to bring: I settle on a basket of fruit our family picks out from the local city markets because we are told that: 1) It is a traditional gift when Chinese visit hosts; and 2) Fresh fruit that is not grown in the village can be quite expensive for those who live there.
Our friend's parents are "peasants" and the only reason we are getting to meet them is because this colleague did so amazingly well at school that he received scholarships that allowed him to continue in school -- all the way through his PhD -- a literally one-in-a billion case.
So we are all together, ambling up a newly paved path ("This is no good...no plants can grow here now" says Jim's colleague). I'm surprised at this country attitude coming from a city-living PhD-er.
His father and his father's oldest brother greet us: the father in a Nike windbreaker and tennis pro cap and uncle wearing a wool suit. We walk over the path, rice fields on either side of us, looking yellow green in the distance and reaching toward the mountains. The air is fresh.
The house consists of three structures: an outhouse (a squat toilet connected to the pig stalls) an open room with a dining table, benches, a wall full of our friend's school achievement certificates with official red star stamps (the display had to be rearranged several times, as the awards kept coming), and bags of fresh rice from his family's fields (the brown for the pigs, the white for people); and a house with an open kitchen and one closed room: the bedroom.
Our friend's mom, about my size with a brown wrinkle-less face, huge smile, straight strong back, serves us duck with potatoes, chicken, a greens and tofu dish, rice, and stir-fried cilantro. We dig into the greens and cilantro though the family has strategically placed the meat in front of us. It's all just so good.
Later, Marcus and I feed brown rice and its chaff to the ducks, and chickens (which sneak into the dining area, but are shooed away by our friend's mom) and pigs. I admire the baby pigs and our friend's dad makes the slash-across-the-throat sign ie: "do I want him to slaughter it so I can eat it?" Somehow I'm able to communicate that it is not that kind of like, so the baby pig lives another day.
At some point, after several cups of tea, I have to use the bathroom, and our friend's mom worries that perhaps I should use the village toilet, and I insist that theirs is just fine. I try to balance myself and commune with the pigs and it all works out.
We are the only foreign family in recent memory to visit the village, and we try to not commit any faux pas, though it's hard to know what is or is not acceptable. We come to understand that not having third helpings would have been an insult, but we are expected at another professor's home that evening for dinner and not eating at THAT home would have been an insult: so we get away with just having seconds.
Jim and Marcus are doing well speaking and understanding the Chinese conversation. But then Marcus has a hard time at one point listening and smiling to all this adult talk (very few kids in the village as families who can move to the city often do, unfortunately) and asks to play with his hand-held game computer. I say "no." So, instead, he goofs around and starts making animal noises, and our friend's father declares he must be very bright, as any boy in the village who can do such a thing is considered very smart. I think he is being polite, but I'll accept it.
We take two long walks, one through the village center and see a few kids. One little boy starts crying because he is afraid of the foreigners. One little girl hides, then bravely says hello. I make a baby laugh by tickling his feet, so I feel I successfully communicated.
We are invited back, and I am amazed at what I saw. I ask our friend if he thinks living in the city or country is "easier" and he believes country life is better, "because you always have food."
I do hope things continue to go well for his parents. As an only child in a system with no pension, our friend will be their sole source of support should they be unable to work. I ask him what their thoughts are on his amazing achievement. His father's parents were able to afford 6 years of school, his mother's, two. "They have no idea," he says.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
What sabbatical?
I've spent most of the last week line editing 22 student stories. Most of them are fascinating--examples below--but take about an hour each to edit. I've also been invited to lecture at 2-3 other colleges in Nanjing, am working hard on my Chinese and helping Marcus with his Hebrew tutoring. And I'm now one of Nina's acupuncture patients. I went to her clinic yesterday where I had my chronic knee pain treated by the head doctor and half a dozen students. They stuck in lots of needles and used heat from burning cotton swabs (as the smoke was rising, I told the doctor I felt like a Nanjing kao yangguizi, a Nanjing roasted foreign devil). Four more treatments to go. The good news, I'm told, is that none of this can do any harm.
Marcus is making new friends--he's having a sleepover with a Canadian boy and his family this weekend--and enjoying the school. They brought in a former European league basketball player to coach the kids this week. They're also studying Shakespeare, Roman history, maths and Chinese. (He's getting better faster than I am but is usually too shy to speak.) We're also hanging out regularly with Ma Yan and her family--a connection from an NU Chinese prof. We went to the driving range with them Sunday and then Marcus and BangBang joined dozens of kids half their size bouncing around a giant, inflated jungle gym in Baima park. We're going to try to cook together Sunday.
Back to some student papers. I assigned them to write travel pieces during the week off and now they're rewriting them. Most of them have great story ideas although they have trouble with English, particularly our weird colloquialisms. One story was based on a student's visit to a small Hani viilage in Xishangbanna where she and her family visited a Hani home (where they butchered a pig for them) and went with them to pick tea leaves. Another student visited a museum commemorating a shipyard in Mawei that introduced European education to China in 1866, brought foreign teachers here and sent students, some of whom became prominent leaders, to study in Europe beginning at age 12. Another wrote about the freshwater springs of Jinan City through the eyes of a 70-year-old man who has lived there all his life.
"On a sunny afternoon, Cui Liangjun came to wash clothes in a spring stream, and happened to come across another old neighbor. They swung clothes lightly, and let running water wash dirt away. At the same time, they chatted charmingly together, sharing news on the price of eggs, discussing details of their shadowboxing practices, and exchanging information about their children. They both have lived here for many years and are highly familiar with each other’s family. In this traditional Chinese community, a near neighbor is better than a distant cousin. Cui said he knows the names of his neighbors’ kids, breeds of their pets, and their hobbies. “I can even know what they will eat at supper by the smell,” he said.
Marcus is making new friends--he's having a sleepover with a Canadian boy and his family this weekend--and enjoying the school. They brought in a former European league basketball player to coach the kids this week. They're also studying Shakespeare, Roman history, maths and Chinese. (He's getting better faster than I am but is usually too shy to speak.) We're also hanging out regularly with Ma Yan and her family--a connection from an NU Chinese prof. We went to the driving range with them Sunday and then Marcus and BangBang joined dozens of kids half their size bouncing around a giant, inflated jungle gym in Baima park. We're going to try to cook together Sunday.
Back to some student papers. I assigned them to write travel pieces during the week off and now they're rewriting them. Most of them have great story ideas although they have trouble with English, particularly our weird colloquialisms. One story was based on a student's visit to a small Hani viilage in Xishangbanna where she and her family visited a Hani home (where they butchered a pig for them) and went with them to pick tea leaves. Another student visited a museum commemorating a shipyard in Mawei that introduced European education to China in 1866, brought foreign teachers here and sent students, some of whom became prominent leaders, to study in Europe beginning at age 12. Another wrote about the freshwater springs of Jinan City through the eyes of a 70-year-old man who has lived there all his life.
"On a sunny afternoon, Cui Liangjun came to wash clothes in a spring stream, and happened to come across another old neighbor. They swung clothes lightly, and let running water wash dirt away. At the same time, they chatted charmingly together, sharing news on the price of eggs, discussing details of their shadowboxing practices, and exchanging information about their children. They both have lived here for many years and are highly familiar with each other’s family. In this traditional Chinese community, a near neighbor is better than a distant cousin. Cui said he knows the names of his neighbors’ kids, breeds of their pets, and their hobbies. “I can even know what they will eat at supper by the smell,” he said.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Rosh Hashana and The Golden Week
At the end of class a week ago Tuesday (September 23), my students asked me if I was having class on Sunday. I hadn't heard about it before, but it seems that's the price we pay for Golden Week. National Day on October 1, celebrating the Communist Party coming to power on October 1, 1949, has become National (Golden) Week this decade, an opportunity for hundreds of millions of Chinese to travel to historic sites, visit family and spend money. I don't think that's what Mao had in mind, but Deng Xiaoping is smiling.
At any rate, since the holiday doesn't officially start until Wednesday (and all the students leave town well before that), those of us with Monday or Tuesday classes hold a makeup session on Sunday. About half my students came but it was a pleasant class. I also got to spend part of the morning with four Nanjing high school students who wanted to discuss careers in journalism with me. They are even more shy than my grad students but I'm planning to see them at least a few more times. It's the kind of outreach the Fulbright program encourages and it's fun for me.
We'd been thinking about going back to Shanghai for Rosh Hashana since Chabad holds services there. (Judaism is not one of the authorized religions in China but Rosh Hashana is OK since it's a New Year's festival of sorts.) But Marcus's Hebrew tutor Enav told us he'd be conducting a small service here in Nanjing at the Judaic Studies Center. It was another unique China experience.
About a dozen of us gathered around the conference table--Chinese master's and doctoral students in Judaic Studies, a junior faculty member, an old China hand whose connection to China goes back to the days of Kissinger and Nixon, Marcus, Nina and I--and joined Enav in blessing wine (he brought a bottle from Israel), bread (which Enav baked) and plates of fish, fruits and vegetables Enav had prepared. String beans, pomegranates, pumpkin, apples, honey. We talked about the significance of the holiday, said our blessings and ate. A special Rosh Hashana.
We spent the rest of Golden Week following Deng's wishes by joining half the country in Beijing. We've all seen the new China on tv but it's certainly different from the country I taught and traveled in during the mid 80s and the China Nina and I saw on our three-week trip here in 1992. Beijing is a stunning, futuristic city. It also had a palpable feel of political control we haven't sensed in Nanjing. Police, security checks, security cameras. People who are careful about what they say. Tiananmen Square may be filled with crowds but it's clear the Party is keeping a close watch on their make up.
We got to spend some time with our Fulbright friends in Beijing. The Balla family lives outside a hutong (a traditional neighborhood with single story houses that open onto narrow unpaved streets)in northwest Beijing and we met them near Tiananmen just after we arrived (but not until we got our first taste of Beijing duck). The crush of people in the subway and on the street was overwhelming so we headed to the night market where we sampled everything from jiaozhe to scorpions. We did the usual tourism--Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace--the next day, then headed to their hutong and a great family-style restaurant.
On Friday, we visited the Great Wall at Mutianyu--almost tranquil (except for the hawkers) compared with the other sites. Ok, so I bought a "I Climbed the Great Wall" t-shirt and Marcus bought a funny paper hat. Then back to town to join the Ballas at a Uighur/Muslim restaurant with terrific chicken kebabs and a curry, anise, paprika dish that translates as "big plate of chicken."
We paid our respects to The Chairman on Saturday--two hours of pushing and shoving in an endless line so we could spend about 30 seconds filing by his eerie but well-preserved corpse. And more jostling to see the Forbidden City. One thing that hasn't changed in my decades away is the Chinese passion for taking pictures of each other virtually blocking out historic sites in the background.
We got back to Nanjing late Saturday. It's nice to be home. It's even nicer that our adopted home in China feels that way.
At any rate, since the holiday doesn't officially start until Wednesday (and all the students leave town well before that), those of us with Monday or Tuesday classes hold a makeup session on Sunday. About half my students came but it was a pleasant class. I also got to spend part of the morning with four Nanjing high school students who wanted to discuss careers in journalism with me. They are even more shy than my grad students but I'm planning to see them at least a few more times. It's the kind of outreach the Fulbright program encourages and it's fun for me.
We'd been thinking about going back to Shanghai for Rosh Hashana since Chabad holds services there. (Judaism is not one of the authorized religions in China but Rosh Hashana is OK since it's a New Year's festival of sorts.) But Marcus's Hebrew tutor Enav told us he'd be conducting a small service here in Nanjing at the Judaic Studies Center. It was another unique China experience.
About a dozen of us gathered around the conference table--Chinese master's and doctoral students in Judaic Studies, a junior faculty member, an old China hand whose connection to China goes back to the days of Kissinger and Nixon, Marcus, Nina and I--and joined Enav in blessing wine (he brought a bottle from Israel), bread (which Enav baked) and plates of fish, fruits and vegetables Enav had prepared. String beans, pomegranates, pumpkin, apples, honey. We talked about the significance of the holiday, said our blessings and ate. A special Rosh Hashana.
We spent the rest of Golden Week following Deng's wishes by joining half the country in Beijing. We've all seen the new China on tv but it's certainly different from the country I taught and traveled in during the mid 80s and the China Nina and I saw on our three-week trip here in 1992. Beijing is a stunning, futuristic city. It also had a palpable feel of political control we haven't sensed in Nanjing. Police, security checks, security cameras. People who are careful about what they say. Tiananmen Square may be filled with crowds but it's clear the Party is keeping a close watch on their make up.
We got to spend some time with our Fulbright friends in Beijing. The Balla family lives outside a hutong (a traditional neighborhood with single story houses that open onto narrow unpaved streets)in northwest Beijing and we met them near Tiananmen just after we arrived (but not until we got our first taste of Beijing duck). The crush of people in the subway and on the street was overwhelming so we headed to the night market where we sampled everything from jiaozhe to scorpions. We did the usual tourism--Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace--the next day, then headed to their hutong and a great family-style restaurant.
On Friday, we visited the Great Wall at Mutianyu--almost tranquil (except for the hawkers) compared with the other sites. Ok, so I bought a "I Climbed the Great Wall" t-shirt and Marcus bought a funny paper hat. Then back to town to join the Ballas at a Uighur/Muslim restaurant with terrific chicken kebabs and a curry, anise, paprika dish that translates as "big plate of chicken."
We paid our respects to The Chairman on Saturday--two hours of pushing and shoving in an endless line so we could spend about 30 seconds filing by his eerie but well-preserved corpse. And more jostling to see the Forbidden City. One thing that hasn't changed in my decades away is the Chinese passion for taking pictures of each other virtually blocking out historic sites in the background.
We got back to Nanjing late Saturday. It's nice to be home. It's even nicer that our adopted home in China feels that way.
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